Roar! Hurricane Tiger!
by Barrett M107
Summary: Hurricanes are wild, unpredictable, the Tiger is fierce. What the two share is that they are powerful, they cannot be tamed. That is what these Guild members have in common. With members from all woks of life and spirits that embody the very name of the Guild, it's chaos waiting to happen. T for Violence, strong language. Not Accepting Ocs as of now. Collab with The Guardian 1412
1. Prologue

**This is just a short excerpt from chapter 1. And hopefully I can stay on is more of a taste so you can judge whether you'd like to read it or not. And I hope you do :) But you can skip it for the whole thing if you like.  
**

**I'll update my profile on when the next chapter will be out. **

_Story Preview_

"Just hand over all of your jewels kid, we don't wanna hurt nobody," the lead thief stated, reaching forward with his free hand, motioning for the young man to do as he said.

"Huh, that's ironic, because I want to hurt all of you," he replied just as a light breeze blowing past his feet.

The leader sneered, looking down at him, "What did you just say, Gaki?"

"I. Want. To. Hurt. You. All," He replied slowly. The moment he finished he took a step forward, causing the thieves to tense and raise their magic and weapons to ready themselves. One of them glanced at the small orange cat that was making its way to one side of dirt road where it sat itself in the shade of a tree.

"Hey, Krey… Krey!" The thief hissed, getting his boss' attention, "That cat, it's an Exceed! You this kid is a…" The thief in charge eyed the grey haired young man as he stretched in the middle of the road.

"Gaki!"

"Yeah?"

"Are you a - " He was cut off before he could finish his sentence, though the young man finished for him.

"A Dragon Slayer? Oh yeah, big time," If it were possible his grinned widened ever so slightly as he stood up straight, "Coyote Egret is the name and kicking ass is my game! How's it goin'?" Wind encircled his feet as he propelled himself towards the thieves at an incredible speed. The beasts were the first to jump in action upon reflex while the thieves moved after recovering from brief shock. Coyote was upon them in mid-air. He inhaled deeply…

**Final Update: No Longer Accepting OCs. **

**October 18th Update: **I have created a Forum for this fic so if you want, check it out! It's brand new and starting out so not a lot is going on but for their is an October exclusive contest going on!


	2. Part 1: A Coyote in the Wind

**!Author's Note!**

**A few things…**

**One, **So, I finally got around to the remake of Leone Tempest, woohoo!

**Two, **This fic will contain Action, Adventure with some humor thrown in and a few smidges of romance if Guardian and I feel we can pull it off. Romance isn't my strong suit in writing so I won't make promises on it. But I will try

**Three, **For those who submitted to Hurricane Tiger and/or Bloody Fangs and are wondering about your characters. Unless I actually told you I wasn't accepting your OC, then they're in. Bloody Fangs will come in to play during the Second Arc.

**And Four**, about the OC sheets, I'm not using the stats. I really regret having that as a part of the sheet, my mistake. Just letting you guys know so you don't address those. Characters will still kick butt during fights.

**Characters introduced…**

Coyote – Me

Yerma – CorGryphonFeather

Alistar – The Traveling Master

* * *

A guttural growling emanated from the young man as he walked along a dirt path; hands stuffed in to the pockets of black cargo pants and the teeth of his geta left shallow imprints in the earth from his rather forceful steps. If the bestial noise wasn't enough to warn any passersby to stray away then his overall demeanor would certainly finish the job. His eyebrows were drawn together, his eyes narrowed. His mouth formed in to a sneer that revealed his sharp canines.

His hair was grey, a short spiky wild mess and his eyes were hazel. He wore black cargo pants and an open pink shirt with white tribal flowers.

"Sons of – Who do they think they are…" He grumbled underneath his breath, "Giving me bogus information like that! Tch, I'll rip'em apart I will!" He kicked a rock in his path that flew through the air and struck with a nearby tree with resounding dull _thunk_.

After being sent on a wild goose chase for a whole week, he was in a much less than pleasant mood. All he had wanted was some information on a friend's location and he instead was sent halfway across Fiore for jack-squat! Needless to say that any obstacle he had encountered on his way back had stayed in his way very long…

His grey eyes glanced around at the lines of trees on both sides of him. All he could see were the trees for some feet until it became dark in under their canopies of leaves. He looked forward and the dirt road stretched far ahead of him to the point that the land and sky met at the horizon. He could see the end of the trees some ways off where the trees became more sparse and wide spread amongst tall green grass.

His sneer deepened, "Dammit… I need to find those bastards soon before I get really annoyed… When I find'em, I'll…" He stopped, "I'll… I'll" His nose twitched, "I'll… I - **Achoo!... Achoo!...**" He sneezed, stumbling forward. He wobbled on his feet, "Son of a – **Achoo!**"

He spun around, "You crossed over four feet, baka-neko!" He snapped, **"Achoo!" **

"Well how am I supposed to know how far four feet is!?" an equally annoyed voice retorted.

"Stay back farther than that, it's that frea-ea- **Achoo! **– Freaking simple! **Achoo!**" He stepped away and puffed out breaths as he tried to inhale oxygen at the same time. He soon got his breathing under control and glared down at the source of his problems.

Tobi, a small orange cat with white paws and underbelly walking upright on its back two legs, it wore a black bandana with slits cut in it for his ears. It stood there with its arms crossed and slanted eyes narrowed glaring equally hard at the human glaring down at him. The two had a staring contest for some time before the grey haired young man started to walk away and the cat followed after him, still with its arms crossed.

"Teme-ningen," the Cat grumbled.

"Baka-neko," the young man replied.

There were no words exchanged between them and almost all was quiet except for the sounds of his sandals clacking against the ground and the occasional rustling of leaves on the trees because of a light breeze. He decided to speak up, asking the Exceed, "You wouldn't happen to know where I met them, would you?"

"No," Tobi replied bluntly.

He growled once again, "Then why didn't you stay in that town? Go live with some kid!" He had allergies when it came to cats and the damn Exceed knew that. The cat barely helped him at all, unless you counted getting him run out of town as 'helping.' They met some months ago and the Exceed had been sticking to him like a leech. At least he had gotten the blasted feline to keep its distance, but there were times he just knew the cat came close on purpose just torture him for one reason or another.

"Maybe I'm just going to… whatever place is in this direction! Did you ever think of that?" Tobi retorted after a brief pause.

"Then why are you walking? Just fly there if you have somewhere to be!" He snarled.

"Because I want to enjoy the scenery!" Tobi replied a little more loudly than before.

"Then stop and smell the freaking roses while you fly!" the young man shouted as he whirled around to glare down at the orange-furred feline, but as he did, he jerked forward, **"Achoo! Achoo!..." **He stumbled back, him having let Tobi come too close, **"Achoo!... **D – damn – **Achoo! – **Dammit!" Tobi sighed, rolling his eyes as he stepped back, letting the young man breath.

"You're pretty pathetic, ningen," the Exceed commented.

The young man raised his middle finger, much to Tobi's chagrin, as he got through his sneezing fit. He erected his posture and growled quietly.

"Man, I hate cats…" He murmured, running a hand through his spiky grey hair.

"Well you're no ray of sunshine yourself, ningen," Tobi stated.

"I have a name you know, baka-neko," the young man told him. The cat merely glanced away, not even acknowledging the statement.

"And so do I," He glanced over his shoulder, down at the Exceed who refused to meet his eye so he went back to looking at the road ahead of him. The end of the forests on either side of him was mere feet away.

"Stop," He commanded suddenly. Tobi looked up at him to retort but a breeze passed in front of his feet. The Exceed narrowed its eyes and moved to the side to get a better view of what was in their way in front of the grey haired young man. One by one several figures stepped in to view. A band of thieves, some brandishing weapons others calling upon their magic in what was supposed to be a threatening manner. Several beasts joined them as well, feral-looking wolves covered with dark blue fur, their eyes red like fire in sharp contrast to their appearance.

One of the thieves stepped forward levitating small rocks above his palms and orbiting them around a small space. He began to close his hand and the rocks merged creating a staff as tall as its creator.

The grey haired young man stood there for a few moments with hands still in his pockets and making no move to defend or run. His eyes ran over the group of thieves and the beasts. A grin slowly spread across his face exposing his sharp canines…

"And just when I was looking to vent some aggression too…" He murmured, bringing out one hand to grip the crook of his neck as he craned his neck, garnering loud pops.

"Just hand over all of your jewels kid, we don't wanna hurt nobody," the lead thief stated, reaching forward with his free hand, motioning for the young man to do as he said.

"Huh, that's ironic, because I want to hurt all of you," he replied just as a light breeze blowing past his feet.

The leader sneered, looking down at him, "What did you just say, Gaki?"

"I. Want. To. Hurt. You. All," He replied slowly, making hand gestures at the same time to try and communicate what he was saying. The moment he finished he took a step forward, causing the thieves to tense and raise their magic and weapons to ready themselves. One of them glanced at the small orange cat that was making its way to one side of dirt road where it sat itself in the shade of a tree.

"Hey, Krey… Krey!" The thief hissed, getting his boss' attention, "That cat, it's an Exceed! You this kid is a…" The thief in charge eyed the grey haired young man as he stretched in the middle of the road.

"Gaki!"

"Yeah?"

"Are you a - " He was cut off before he could finish his sentence, though the young man finished for him.

"A Dragon Slayer? Oh yeah, big time," If it were possible his grinned widened ever so slightly as he stood up straight, "Coyote Egret is the name and kicking ass is my game! How's it goin'?" Wind encircled his feet as he propelled himself towards the thieves at an incredible speed. The beasts were the first to jump in action upon reflex while the thieves moved after recovering from brief shock. Coyote was upon them in mid-air. He inhaled deeply…

"**Wind Dragon's Roar!"**

* * *

"You went overboard back there…"

"Who lied to you and told you I would give a rat's ass?"

After their encounter with the thieves, the young man by the name of Coyote and the orange Exceed, Tobi had reached a new town thanks to him forcing Coyote to veer off from the dirt road. Having taken some of the thieves' jewels, which they had undoubtedly procured from other travelers, the Wind Dragon Slayer purchased several skewered grilled fish from a stand, which he and the orange Exceed were currently eating.

Coyote stopped and surveyed the small town around him. A few concession and trinket stands, shops all around him. He sniffed at the air…

"Yeah, this is the place…" He stated, smirking slightly as he tore in to his fish.

"How do you know?" Tobi inquired.

"This place smells like shit…" He said with a grimace.

"You say that about every town!"

"Shittyness is based on how boring a place is and it is hard to forget such a level of shittyness, I'm sure this is the place…" He stated, ignoring the angered glares and stares of people who obviously didn't take kindly to him insulting their home so casually. Coyote walked on and Tobi moved to follow but was suddenly grabbed up.

"Aw! He's adorable!"

"Mommy, can we keep him? Can we? Can we?"

The orange Exceed had been snatched up by a pair of young children who were squeezing him in vice like hugs and roughly petting him as he struggled to get free. Try as he might, the children were vastly stronger and he was unable to activate his wings being so panicked.

"Coyote! Help me! Get these brats off of me!" He shouted.

"Oh mommy, he can talk!" one of them gasped; having ignored it's calling them a brat.

"Can we please keep it?"

"Well…" the woman stared, looking over the struggling animal in her child's arms, "I don't see any tags…"

"You can't be serious?!" The Exceed gaped in shock, they were either blatantly ignoring his protests or just that stupid, "Coyote! Help me!" Tobi shouted. He could see neither the large, shit-eating grin stretched across the grey haired young man's face nor the mischievous twinkle in his eyes. Coyote began to whistle a tune, not even acknowledging the pleas of the orange Exceed.

"Coyote! Teme-ningen, Coyote help me - Gack!" Anymore cries for help were silenced as he was squeezed even tighter by the child holding him. The grey haired young man never looked back as Tobi was carried off by the children, grinning to himself the entire time as he indeed did hear the Exceed and enjoyed every pleading word. This was his form of payback when it came to the damned feline _'Forgetting' _about his allergies and overstepping the boundaries.

He wasn't normally sadistic in any sense but he could hold a grudge…

He stopped mid-step, the bones of a herring to the tail hanging from between his lips. He sniffed at the air. He started to growl quietly as he sniffed around, garnering confused and strange looks from passersby, but he paid them no mind and went about his business. His eyes caught sight of a group of people, two men and one woman, conversing off to the right of the busy main street near an alleyway. He looked them up and down and finally found what he was looking for…

On the back of the right hand of one of the males was a wolves head within a larger 'S', the mark of the Mercenary guild: Southern Wolves.

Coyote smirked and made his way over to the group. They took no notice of him until he threw his arms around the shoulders of the two taller males. All three glared at him but he kept smirking and gripped both of their shoulders tightly.

"Hey buuuuddies," He greeted them, growling quietly, "I have a riddle for you all. What has two thumbs, can roar like a Dragon, and is really pissed off by a Guild that rhymes with Touthern Yolves?" His grip tightened causing the two men to wince as they glared at him, "This guy right here," meaning himself and it was clear by the glances that they understood him. _Every _word.

He nodded, "Let's take a walk, maybe you can show me your guild?" He looked at them and slowly nodded his head, "Then it's decided, let's get going."

The group, headed by the woman, made their way on to the main street. Coyote kept a tight grip on the men's shoulders, smiling as if they were friends and the three got the mission, smiling as well. The woman spoke in a hushed tone to make it look as though they were conversing between themselves.

"You're gonna have a lot of explaining to do, Gaki."

"Tch, so will the ass-hat that gave me bogus information," Coyote replied with a slight growl, "Listen closely, all you have to do is tell me where a certain guy is and you three won't get hurt."

"Tough talk, but you won't sound so smug when we reach our guild hall," one of the men said, "Nobody threatens the Southern Wolves and gets away with it."

Coyote smirked, "What a cliché thing to say, oh I'm quaking in my sandals…" They exchanged a few more not so friendly words of banter on their way through town. No one around them was any the wiser about the situation of the three. They finally neared their destination: a two-story building with stone statues of sitting wolves flanking the white double doors that were adorned with a large version of the Guild's symbol. The group stopped and Coyote looked at the men hearing one of them chuckle. Both men were smirking and the woman looked over her shoulder at him with a sly smile.

"I'm afraid I don't get the joke," Coyote stated.

"You're in trouble now…!" The two men dived away, rolling in to a crouched position. The woman spun around and thrust her hand out towards Coyote, a ball of light forming in her palm.

"Take this!" She launched the orb.

_BOOM!_

Coyote was engulfed in smoke in seconds as the explosive orb struck right at his feet. He jumped back and landed safely on his feet. He patted his clothes to rid them of the dust that had clung to him. He noticed two shadows move within the wall of smoke and dust created by the blast and it moved towards him quickly, but passed around him. He saw two newcomers standing where he had been previously, one noticeably taller than the other and if he wasn't mistaken one was holding… a large frying pan?

"So, you think you can just threaten members of our guild like that?" the taller of the two asked.

"The Vanish Brothers will not allow this," the frying pan wielder added. Coyote stood there with a blank expression as the other three mages grouped around the two he assumed were the Vanish Brothers. The guild's doors opened and several mages filed out with their respective magic and weapons at the ready. The townspeople saw this and scattered, women quickly took their children inside, shop patrons ran and took cover while the owners made haste boarding up their place of business as to protect from any serious damage.

"Tch, teme ningen," Coyote looked over his shoulder to see Tobi walking towards him, "Always starting trouble."

"Technically that rat bastard started this and now I'm going to finish this," the Dragon Slayer replied. He surveyed the group of Southern Wolves mages and stopped on one certain Mage. He was a man with an elongated, narrowed face and whisker like markings on his cheeks. He had an almost rat-like facial appearance.

Coyote slowly pointed towards him, "You! Teme, you're the one who gave me that bogus info! And now you're gonna pay! You hear me?"

"What is this fool talking about?" the taller brother asked.

"I have no idea."

Coyote grinned widely as he craned his neck, garnering a few loud pops. He raised his hands and pressed his fist in to his palm, cracking his knuckles and repeating the process with the other hand, "My name is Coyote Egret and I'm the guy who is gonna kick your ass…" The wind picked up around his feet as he got in to his fighting stance, "How's it goin'?"

* * *

**Elsewhere...**

"Candy~ Candy~ Candy~ Yay!" A green haired girl sand, pumping her fists in to the air, causing the yellow bracelets she wore on both wrists to jangle about. She wore an over-sized yellow t-shirt over her smaller frame, knee-length jean shorts and brown hiking boots. Her vibrant green hair was tied in to a ponytail.

"I don't think I've ever seen anyone so excited over candy, hehe," A taller young man remarked. His hands were in the pockets of his light brown hoodie jacket. He wore ragged blue jeans, torn at the knees and brown hiking boots.

Yerma grinned widely, "Then you've never met me!" She said with a large grin. After having completed their most recent job, they dropped by the town's candy shop just as they were getting a new shipment of sweets and the owner gave them half off. Suffice to say she had left with pockets weighed down and a large grin on her face. Her grinned expression became a confused one, "Wait… You're… Alistar!" She whined.

The young man laughed at his own joke. Indeed he was blind, a black bandana wrapped around his eyes.

"Ne, Al? Can I have some of Yerma's candy? Please, just one piece!" a smaller than normal exceed crawled out of the young man's hood and looked up at him with wide green eyes.

"Awww! He's so adorable, no matter how many times I see him!" Yerma fawned, reaching up and scratching behind the exceed's ear. The little exceed blushed at her praise.

"Sure Marsh, if she's all right with it, but just the one," Alistar replied, scratching him under his chin. Marsh hopped up and down with joy and materialized his small white wings so that he could glide down and sit upon Yerma's shoulder. She fished around in the pockets of her jean shorts and finally found it: a small packet of gummy fish which the little exceed loved.

"So Al! You and I can catch the next train and be home at the guild by tomorrow!"

The blind young man groaned quietly at the very thought, "Trains…" He shuddered a bit, "Uhm Maybe… Hehe, that's a touchy subject for me you know."

"Oh yeah, I almost forgot about Dragon slayers and their motion sickness problem," She stuck her tongue out playfully, scratching the back of her head, "Sorry about that."

"Don't worry about it. We'll find a way home, heck, I could walk from here," Alistar said, "I'd love to get a feel for the nature around here." Yerma stared at him for a few moments before she burst out laughing.

"Haha! I see what you did there 'get a feel', haha!"

"Actually… That one wasn't a joke… You know…" He gestured to his covered eyes.

Yerma deadpanned, "Uhm…" Marsh giggled to himself despite the slightly awkward air between the two and the green haired girl's shoulders slumped, "Aw c'mon! You're always telling jokes! How am I supposed to tell the diff -" Her whining was interrupted by the Dragon Slayer and Exceed, who burst out in to joyful laughter. She blushed, "Hey! What's so funny?"

"I'm just messing with you, Yerma! That was a joke!"

She abruptly stopped just watching him as he walked ahead of her. Her shoulders slumped further and she pouted, "You're so mean sometimes…"

"Hehe, sorry, I can't help myself," Alistar replied, still chuckling. Yerma shook her head but soon started to chuckle as well. Soon enough all three of them were laughing, but that was ended by an explosion nearby. Their attention went to the plume of smoke in the distance.

"Marsh, stay out of sight until I say so, Okay?" Alistar asked. The little exceed nodded and hurriedly scurried in to his hood. The two mages nodded to one another and started at a run heading towards the origin of the disturbance. They ran quickly and could hear combat happening the closer they came. They ran opposite of a large crowd that was no doubt running as to not be caught up in the crossfire. Having been slowed down considerably by them, Alistar quickly grabbed Yerma and jumped high on to a nearby roof and from there they continued on.

"Down there," sliding down a tiled roof, Yerma came to a halt at the edge of the building's roof. Alistar hopped from the other side and landed beside her in a crouch.

Several bodies were thrown through the air as a pink and grey blur barreled in to them.

"Southern Wolves," Yerma stated, spying a two of the three combat savvy mages. She knew who the Vanish Brothers were from her guild-mates describing them to her after run-ins on their jobs. The wild hair style and the large frying pan were dead giveaways. They Brother's seemed to be their opponent's real main opposition and whoever it was seemed to be ignoring them, dodging and knocking them aside and going for one in particular, despite the Brother's being the real threat to them.

"Thoughts?" Alistar asked, taking Marsh from his hood and setting him on the roof to keep him out of the fight.

"Break it up!" She replied with a smile. Both of them jumped down in to the fray. Yerma placed her hands together and grinned wildly, "Wood-Make: Wall!" Her exclamation garnered some attention from the fighters, giving her enough time as she pressed her hands against the ground as she landed. The ground cracked in front of her and wall erected itself between the fighting sides, stopping the Vanish Brothers briefly. Alistar dashed to the center of the wall and pressed his hands against it.

He uttered the two words of his spell, "Nature's Embrace."

* * *

**Southern Wolves' side…**

"What the – How dare they interrupt our fight! I'll crush'em!" the younger brother exclaimed punching the wooden wall and leaving a sizeable crater in his burst of anger.

"Indeed, it's quite sad that they believe this can stop us," the elder brother said as they crouched down to jump over it, but were shocked by wooden hands suddenly growing from the wall and advancing on them. They were bound quickly, the wooden hands wrapped around their limbs and pulling them against the wall.

"Dammit!" They cursed, struggling against their bonds.

* * *

**Coyote, Alistar and Yerma…**

Yerma and Alistar smiled and high-fived one another hearing the ruckus on the other side of the wall. They knew that their plan had succeeded.

"Oi! The hell was that, ya stupid or something?" They turned to see Coyote who was livid, glaring daggers at them. He stomped up to them and lashed out with a high kick, slamming Alistar's head in to the wall, leaving a shallow dent.

"Alistar!" Yerma gasped.

Coyote growled in annoyance, "Who do you think you are? Getting in my way like that, I should kick your asses!" He brought his foot away and Alistar stayed in that awkward position with his body angled and his head in the wall. He freed himself only by sliding down. After taking a few moments to regain himself, he grinned up at the angry young man and rubbed the red impressions the teeth of Coyote's geta left on his face.

"Nice kick, that stung actually," Alistar said with chuckle. Coyote glared down at him and raised his foot to deliver another blow.

"You makin' fun of meh… Mah… Ah…" Coyote abruptly stopped and lost his footing. He fell on his butt, **"Achoo! Achoo!" **He quickly scurried back, "Ah man! Tobi, you know the damn rules… **Achoo!" **Coyote griped in a rather nasally tone, looking around, greatly confusing Yerma and Alistar.

"What are you talking about, Baka?" They looked to see an orange car sitting off to the side enjoying a skewered grilled fish, "I'm outside of your _safe zone, _it's not my fault."

"But then -" Coyote got his answer before he managed to finish the question.

"Waaah! Alistar!" Marsh came flying down and landed on Alistar's chest, he was crying. He looked up at his partner with tears streaming down his cheeks, "Are you okay? The mean guy kicked you and -" the little exceed was stopped by his friend petting his head.

"No worries pal, I'm all right," He said and the little exceed sniffed, its eyes large and watering. Marsh still cried in to Alistar's chest, but more in relief.

"Coyote, look," Tobi said, getting as close as he could without triggering his partner's allergies. He managed to get his attention and the grey haired young man followed to where he was pointing: towards the little exceed, Marsh. "He has an Exceed as well; wouldn't that make him a Dragon Slayer?"

Coyote's eyes narrowed. He slowly got back on to his feet and patted dust from his clothes. He looked down at Tobi and opened his mouth to speak, but it was interrupted by a loud voice from the other side of the wall.

"I'm going to wipe you all out! Nobody messes with the Southern Wolves and gets away with it! Just wait 'til I get outta this! You're all dead!"

"Ehe, I vote we get out of here!" Yerma said, raising her hand. Alistar and Marsh raised their hands, and paw as it be, in agreement. They looked at Coyote who, in turn, looked at them.

"…What?"

Alistar slowly got up and placed Marsh on to his shoulder, "We have to be going and since you're the one who cause the ruckus…" He and Yerma dashed at him before he could react and each grabbed one of his arms, leaving a trail of smoke in their wake as they ran away from the fight.

"Oi! Put me down ya pricks! **Achoo!... **Ah damn! **Achoo! Achoo!** … Get that cat awa – **Achoo!** I'll kick all o – **Achoo! - **of your asse - **Achoo**! Put. Me… **Achoo! ...** DOWN!" Coyote yelled as they ran off in to the distances.

"**ACHOO!"**

* * *

The Vanish Brothers, in a show of strength, broke free from the hands and easily demolished large portions of the wooden wall. Neither was particularly happy to see that their opponents had run away.

"Must've scared them off," the younger brother stated with a smirk.

"They'll return, and if not then the Southern Wolves will undoubtedly clash with them again," the elder brother said in a calmer tone. He spun his frying pan staff and held it behind his back, "Let's head back." The younger brother merely nodded his head and followed after him, herding the other members of the Southern Wolves back towards the guild hall while others collected the injured.

* * *

The trio had finally stopped. Coyote was on his stomach sprawled out on the ground a ways away from Yerma and Alistar as to get a hold of himself and for his allergies to calm down. He rolled on to his back and spoke to the Mages who had essentially kidnapped him without looking their way.

"You bastards…" He groaned, closing his eyes, "What the hell was that? Why did you drag me away?"

"We didn't want the whole Guild of Southern Wolves to go on the attack thinking you with a different guild," Alistar answered him.

Coyote sat up, glaring daggers at them, "Like I care! I'm a Dragon Slayer and Southern Wolves is a third rate independent guild, I could kick their asses easily!" He hit his fist in to his open palm.

Yerma's eyes lit up, "A Dragon Slayer? Really?" She was in his face in seconds, a large smile on her face and sparkles in her eyes, "That's so cool! Al is a Dragon Slayer too!" She said, pointing to the blind fellow.

"Ehehe…" A large sweat drop hung over his head, "Yerma, I don't think that's something you should just announce to people…" But his words fell on deaf ears. The Wood-Make mage wrapped her arms around one of Coyote's and quickly started to drag him in one direction.

"What the hell?" Coyote protested. He attempted to stop himself and use his feet as brakes but the steel strips on the soles only caused him to slide. Those strips had helped him many many times but as of now he was cursing them.

"C'mon! I have to show you this awesome place!"

"Yerma! Come back!" Alistar called after them but he was ignored. He was left alone with a confused Marsh and an annoyed and slightly stunned Tobi.

"Dammit…" the orange furred Exceed brought out his white wings and took off after them and Alistar sighed.

"Master March has told her about doing stuff like this…" He murmured, starting at a job behind the Exceed.

* * *

**Translations…**

**Teme-Ningen **– Translates to Bastard human, teme = Bastard and ningen = Human

**Baka-Neko ** - Translates to Stupid Cat, Baka = Stupid or Idiot and Neko = Cat

**Gaki **– Translates to Brat

**It is a bit of a change, making Coyote a Dragon Slayer instead. But I'm really proud of how this turned out and of the actual progress I've made! I hope you guys enjoy this rewrite and hopefully my fans will be there for Guardian and I!**

**Oh, and I will be putting update dates and anything else important on my profile.**

**Drop a review if you like it and We'll be back!**


	3. Part 2: A Coyote Amongst Tigers

**Chapter 2…**

**Great, **feedback for the official first chapter. I got a lot of great OCs and I will be accepting at least a couple more before Guardian and I officially close the Oc submissions! Remember, just for Bloody Fangs.

I won't keep you any longer. Hope you enjoy...

**Character's Introduced…**

Calin – Me

Master March Highlander - Me

* * *

"Hurricane… Tiger?" Coyote slowly repeated the words that had just been said to him by the hyperactive green haired girl, whose name he had yet to learn. She had dragged him against his will to the train station in town where she purchased a ticket for him and her blind partner once he arrived. He resorted to wrapping a bandana around the lower half of his face seeing as he was stuck in the same box with them and not one but _two _cats, Tobi and the smaller exceed.

"That's right! It's this awesome Guild filled with awesome people who can use awesome magic!" She exclaimed, throwing her hands in to the air, "It's so -"

"Awesome?" Tobi said, sitting in her lap.

Yerma laughed, "I was going to say badass, but yeah! Awesome works just as well!"

Coyote rolled his eyes and scoffed, "Tch, I can't believe I was dragged in to this…" He looked from the smiling Yerma who was hugging Tobi and messing with his ears in a playful manner to Alistar who was looking rather green, he groaned quietly, sitting there holding his stomach, "Oi, what's up with the big guy?"

"Huh? Don't you know? Dragon Slayers get motion sickness on vehicles…" Yerma answered him. Both Coyote and Tobi looked at one another, "Wait, you're a Dragon Slayer... Why aren't you getting sick?"

He shrugged his shoulders, "Ah, that's never happened to me before," He said. His lips turned up in to a slight smirk, "Maybe I'm so strong that it doesn't affect me."

"Ughh… Actually… Nobody knows what causes it… Guuhhah… It just happens in Dragon Slayers… Ugh… that are… that are…" Alistar started to lose focus in the middle of speaking. He leaned forward and his face turned blue, his cheeks bulging, "Oh god… Ughhh…" He fainted.

"Al! No!" Marsh yelled. His large eyes began to tear up as he desperately tried to shake Alistar awake, "Wake up, Al!"

Coyote sighed, ignoring the whines and pleas of the small exceed and set his attention on Yerma once again, "I guess I should…" He paused and looked away, scratching one of his cheeks, "Thank… you… For dragging me along, it saves me from having to walk all over Fiore." While he detested having to actually thank the same girl who dragged him away from a fight, he didn't mind the free ride.

Yerma grinned widely and said, "No problem! Anything for a potential new friend!" She looked down at the orange exceed sitting in her lap and began to scratch its stomach, "And I get to play with this cute little guy longer!" The orange exceed smiled and purred contently. Yerma cooed and hugged to the Exceed to her chest, "Aww! Kaawaaaiii!"

"Nyaa~ Tobi is a good boy…" Tobi said, grinning widely as Yerma hugged him closer. Coyote shook his head slightly. That cat was such a perv…

He rested his elbow on the windowsill and propped his head up by resting his chin in his palm. He was stuck a train car with some hyper girl that was enthralled by his perverted exceed and making annoying cooing noises and some blind guy that he knew was a Dragon Slayer and had annoying little exceed of his own that cried a lot from what he gathered, as that was all the brown exceed had down since they had crossed paths. He sighed quietly; this was going to be one long ride to wherever it was they were heading.

All he knew is that they were taking him to some Guild but he didn't know about the town. He thought about asking them just so he would know, but then something came to mind…

He had yet to ask them their names. He remembered letters but he hadn't cared enough to listen when they talked, thinking it was just useless babbling… but he should at least know who it was he was traveling with.

"Oi, chipper girl, blind guy, what are your names?" He asked, still looking out the window at the passing scenery.

"I'm Yerma Catter!" She said and then pointed towards the blind fellow who was still too far gone to answer him, "And he's Alistar Kyrue, and that cute little guy," she motioned to the bawling exceed who continued to shake Alistar, "Is Marsh, his exceed."

Coyote merely glanced at the hand Yerma extended out to him, "It's really nice to meet ya… Uhmm…" Her cheery expression became a quizzical one, "I don't know your name! Oh no, I'm so sorry!" She apologized quickly and Coyote scratched his cheek sheepishly.

"It's fine… I'm Coyote Egret," Yerma extended her hand out to him yet again, but after a brief glance he ignored it vying to look out the window instead.

"Don't mind him, once a teme always teme," Tobi said with a smirk, earning a dangerous glare from the grey haired young man but he didn't flinch. He looked up at Yerma and smiled, "I'm Tobi."

Yerma smiled sweetly, "Hi Tobi~" She brought out a handful of sweets from her pocket, "Want some candy, there's plenty to go around!" The orange exceed gladly accepted took a pack of gummy fish for himself.

"Heeey!" Marsh whined, "Those are mine, don't take those!" Tobi merely stuck out his tongue and enjoyed his treat. Tears began to well up in the smaller exceed's big green eyes. He started to cry for Alistar again who was still out of it.

Coyote sighed yet again, something he had been doing quite a lot since he met these three not even a few hours ago. Now he was stuck in a train car for who knows how long with a hyperactive girl that was feeding candy to a perverted exceed who caused another exceed to start bawling like a child and a blind guy who was moaning and groaning in his incoherent, semiconscious state. Yeah, this was definitely going to be a long ride to this guild.

* * *

**-Later-**

"Oh… sweet… Land… Gwah," Alistar slowly stumbled off of the train and the moment both of his feet touched the concrete station platform he fell forward and hit the floor with a thud. Marsh was immediately by his side and nudging his head in order to try and wake him up. Yerma, Coyote and Tobi watched this from a few feet away.

"We should really move him…" Yerma said, a sweat drop hanging over her head. The other people on the train looking to get off were not able to with Alistar lying on the ground like he was. They, Coyote reluctantly doing so, pulled him aside and leaned him against one of the platform's pillars. The multitude of colors were leaving his face and slowly but surely his normal tannish skin tone was returning.

"Ugh… Uh…" He slowly moved his head and looked side to side, though he could not physically see. He moved his hands along the ground and he opened his mouth to speak again but was quickly interrupted.

"Alistar!" Marsh wailed, jumping on to the Dragon Slayer's chest and clutching on to the front of his hoodie for dear life, "You're okay!" The blind young man tilted his down in Marsh's direction and smiled, he petted the little exceed's head.

"No worries pal, it'll take a lot more than a train to stop me," He said reassuringly. Marsh's eyes brightened in joy and relief.

"Actually, I'd say a train stopped you dead in your tracks," Coyote said, smirking behind his bandana though they could not see it. It was almost possible to _hear _him smirking with that tone of his.

"Yes and one little cat will stop you in yours, so who are you to tease someone?" Tobi retorted, sending Yerma and Alistar in to fits of laughter, even Marsh giggled a bit. Coyote went rigid, his right eye twitching in annoyance. He reared his leg back and turned. He swung his leg, aiming a kick right for Tobi but the Exceed used Aera and was in the air before the kick made contact. Coyote's momentum was too great and his leg went higher than he expected, he was thrown off of his feet and landed with a thud on his rear.

"Baka-Inu!" Tobi jeered, pulling his bottom eyelid down and sticking his tongue out. Yerma, Alistar and Marsh's fits and giggles turned to full blown laughter, unable to contain it any longer. Coyote though sat on the ground, his right eye twitching more so than before…

"Excuse me!" a uniformed worker for the train station made his way over to them, "Please quiet down, you disturbing other people who are waiting to board," He said in a stern tone. They quickly suppressed their laughter as best they could, though the smiles remained.

"Unless you three plan to board, then please vacate the boarding platform immediately," He motioned them to the entrance to the station itself.

"Of course," Alistar said, getting on his feet and putting Marsh in to his hood, "We're sorry about the ruckus, we'll be going now."

Coyote followed the blind Dragon Slayer's lead and stood up, but was utterly silent. He didn't waste any time and made his way to the door even rushing past his traveling companions. He didn't want to be in such an enclosed space with those people and those damned cats any longer than he had to. Not to mention that if things kept going the way they were, a literal twister was bound to tear through that train station and no one wanted that.

They were all standing outside with their minimal luggage, which was only Yerma's rucksack and Alistar's duffle bag. He slung his belongings over his shoulder and turned to Coyote, "Welcome to Freesia Town!" He said with a wide smile. He pointed down the wide road leading towards a town in the distance, "Hurricane Tiger is just a straight shot from here on a hill."

Yerma hoisted her stuff on to her shoulder and jogged ahead. She turned and smiled, waving to the Dragon Slayer's, "C'mon slow pokes! I want to get back to the guild!" She wanted to get home especially fast and have that pudding she had been saving. She couldn't stop smiling at the thought of it.

"There's no big rush Yerma!" Alistar called after, chuckling a bit. Coyote silently trudged forward and Tobi followed in the air, staying closer than usual since the Wind Dragon Slayer still had the bandana around his face.

"There is for me!" She replied back to them.

"So…" Coyote started just as Alistar fell in step beside him, "Is there anything I should know about this Hurricane Tiger guild?"

"Nothing important… All of the Guild members are really nice, except a couple that can be kind of annoying sometimes, but they're still good people…" Alistar scratched his chin in thought, "What are your thoughts, Marsh?"

"Everyone at Hurricane Tiger is awesome! Star-chan is fun!" the little Exceed said cheerily, scurrying on to his friend's head and sitting there, "Rosa-chan and Faye-chan are my favorites! They always sneak me dumplings -" The little exceed's eyes widened and immediately covered its mouth with its paws and tail, "Aww! I wasn't supposed to tell you that! Please don't be mad, Al!" The little exceed looked down at Alistar with tears welling up in his large eyes but he ridded Marsh of his worries, reaching up and petting the little Exceed's head.

"Hehe, it's all right. No need to cry, Marsh."

Coyote just watched the exchange for a moment before he looked at the path ahead of him, "Your exceed is one hell of a crybaby…" The two stopped and looked at him, "He's cried three times since I've met you."

"Hey! I'm no crybaby!" Marsh protested.

"He's just teasing you, Marsh, try not to get upset over it," Alistar said reassuringly. The little exceed glared down at Coyote before finally giving in and looking forward, pouting and grumbling quietly.

Alistar chuckled. He continued his talk with Coyote, "If you haven't already guessed, there are quite a few colorful characters in Hurricane Tiger. The master doesn't like it very much when people curse so try to do that less around him."

"Noted. Probably not going to happen, but noted," Coyote said dryly.

"…I kind of thought so, ehehe," Alistar said, a sweat drop hanging over his head. Marsh perked up then.

"I've never heard words like that before! Talia says stuff like that but never so fast before!..." The little exceed's face turned in to a quizzical expression, "Hey Al?"

"Yeah?"

"What does sh – Mmph! Mm!" Marsh's mouth was covered by Alistar's hand.

"Please don't say that, Marsh, no repeating anything of what Coyote says now or ever," He said. Though Marsh hadn't been able to finish speaking, from his train of thought and what the little Exceed had been saying, Alistar could easily assume what was going leave his friend's mouth.

Marsh nodded and Alistar brought his hand away.

"How much further is it to this guild of yours?" Coyote asked.

"Are we near town yet Marsh?" Alistar asked and the little exceed answered with a cheery yes, "It'll take a few minutes to walk there once we get in to town."

Coyote nodded in understanding and looked forward, examining what he could see of the town. He didn't notice Yerma approaching quickly at a fast pace. Both he and Alistar were jerked forward and stumbled along trying to balance themselves while being dragged along by Yerma.

"C'mon! You guys are too slow~!" She exclaimed with a wide grin.

"Hehe!" Alistar chuckled, "Looks like we'll get their sooner rather than later!"

"Fan-freaking-tastic!" Coyote said, rolling his eyes.

* * *

"Here it is!" They said in unison.

"So this is Hurricane Tiger, eh?"

Before them was a two floor wooden building with large double doors marked an insignia depicting a side view of a roaring tiger in the middle of circle with pointed protrusions pointing in opposite directions. The second floor was slightly smaller than the first, sitting the on the firsts roof and its colors were peculiar, being orange and black stripes that were like that of a tigers, random, some lighter. Both roofs had black roofing tiles. He couldn't see what was so great, it was certainly interesting in appearance but other than that…

"Pretty cool, huh?" Yerma asked with a wide smile. She brought out a lollipop and tore the wrapper from it before sticking the sweet treat in her mouth.

"The inside is way better looking," Alistar said.

Coyote glanced at him, "And just how would you know that?" He asked dryly. There was a long pause, a tumbleweed rolled past them and Yerma coughed.

"Ha! That's a good point!" Alistar said, patting Coyote on the back a couple times, "But actually Marsh and Yerma described it to me… Marsh was a bit clearer though." He recalled the memory and had to suppress the laughter remembering just how excited his partner was back then describing to him the guild hall.

"Hey! I can't help myself, it's just so cool!~" She exclaimed.

"Okay okay, it's cool, will you both just shut up?" Coyote finally snapped. He ran a hand through his hair. After being dragged away from a fight against his will, being unable to exact his revenge on the dingus that had sent him a wild goose chase across Fiore and having to sit with these two and having two cats around him during an agonizingly long train ride, he couldn't take anymore, "Just… Stop…" He finally said.

"Just who is this, I've never seen him around the guild before? And why is causing trouble outside?"

Coyote turned around to see a new arrival to this already, in his opinion, full party. He was well-dressed in a red suit with golden buttons and white cuffs and shirt underneath. His red hair was neatly cut and his orange eyes were focused solely on him in pointed glare. He hadn't been able to finish his fight with the Southern Wolves and he had been itching to hit something ever since the incident on the station platform, so he expected good things from this experience. Good things indeed...

The well-dressed red head walked towards them. He and Coyote were around the same in height and appeared the same age. He looked the grey-haired young man up and down and sneered slightly.

"Hey there, Calin," Alistar greeted him. Marsh had opted to hide in his friends hood, peeking out from behind Alistar's neck.

"Yerma…" His eyes traveled to the green haired girl, ignoring Alistar's greeting, "I assume that you brought this urchin here?"

She opened her mouth to speak but stopped and gasped silently as Calin was brought on to the tips of his toes by Coyote who grabbed him by the scruff of his shirt. The Wind Dragon Slayer didn't look particularly happy with Calin's comment had a vein bulging on his forehead and hand, wearing a strained, toothy, threatening smile.

"Who the hell are you callin' an urchin?" Coyote asked. Alistar stepped forward and raised his hands.

"Now now you guys, no need to fight. Let's all calm down and -"

Calin's sneer deepened. He grabbed Coyote's arm holding him up by the wrist, "The smelly, rude ignoramus with a short temper and ridiculous clothing that I would assume only a commoner or a bum would wear," He wrenched Coyote's hand off of him, "In short, if I used too many big words and was not being perfectly clear: You."

Coyote's eyes narrowed.

"C'mon, Calin, too far," Alistar said, taking a step forward, "Let's just calm down before things get out of control." His attempts to mediate the situation and cool things down seemed to fall on deaf ears. Coyote actually started to chuckle.

"Don't butt in Alistar…" He started, "So… Calin was it?" The red head didn't respond but he knew he was right, "In only five minutes I have developed a hatred for you which is quite impressive seeing as it takes me at least a day to truly develop an opinion of someone. My opinion of you… I really don't think my words would be suitable for any age to hear."

Calin smirked at Coyote, "Those were a lot of big words. Should I stop talking for a while and let your brain cool down."

Neither Yerma nor Alistar could believe how quickly things escalated. They knew the danger of actually bringing Coyote to Hurricane Tiger, being Calin, but they didn't expect him to return so soon, and at such convenient time at that. Yerma discretely tapped Alistar's hand, conveying a message to him. They may have to intervene. He nodded his head.

Coyote smirked underneath his bandana and he was sure Calin could tell, "Nah, I actually prefer to talk with my fists… And one of them has something to say right now," He drew back his free hand and balled it in to a fist. Calin's eyes widened slightly, his hand went for the hilt of his saber. But stopped short as a gust of wind blew by.

"Yare Yare, why must you cubs always cause such trouble for elderly spirit like me?" An elderly gruff voice sighed, "And Calin, you're an intelligent cub for your age, why must you pick fights, and with a guest to our guild at that?" Coyote looked over his shoulder feeling his wrist being restrained and saw the hook of a wooden cane was stopping him. It was in the hands of an elderly man who had to have been at least in his sixties and his arm was frozen, all he could do was flex his muscle and strain against it but his arm was the only thing moving, the cane wasn't budging, not even an inch.

Calin glared at Coyote, wanting desperately to draw his blade and draw blood against the grey-haired young man that dared to insult him, but he did not. His gaze dropped, he released Coyote's other wrist and he bowed slightly.

"My deepest apologies, Master March."

The old man nodded and freed Coyote's wrist from the hook of his cane, "Sorry about that young man, but like Freesia itself, the people can be quite spirited," He said.

Coyote clenched and unclenched his fists. He had heard about Guild Masters and the power they could possess and seeing as how the old man before him and completely stopped him from using his right arm, he doubted trying to pick a fight with him would end well. He inspected the man for himself.

The old man was shorter than him but not by much and he was hunched over but had a sturdier build with broad shoulders. The lower half of his face was covered by a greyish-white beard that went to his chest and his short greyish white hair was brushed back. His eyes seemed closed or squinted, so much so Coyote couldn't see his eyes. He was wearing a short orange kimono with a black sash around his waist and black pants, open toed sandals on his feet.

"Uh huh…" He finally let out, not knowing what else to say.

The old man looked up to the sky, "It is quite hot out… Let's head inside," He said offhandedly, turning back to the Guild. Yerma and Alistar followed him with Calin in tow. Calin made sure to purposely brush past Coyote, shouldering him on his way to the entrance. Coyote stayed in place, deciding whether or not he should actually go in the Guild.

"If nothing else, we can eat and drink while we're here," Tobi said, hovering past Coyote and in to the Guild.

"… I can, you can just stay baka-neko," Coyote grumbled, shoving his hands in to his pockets and walking in to the guild. The moment he walked in he was greeted by a rather nice looking interior though he would never admit it, especially not in front of Alistar and Yerma. The floors were made of sleek, dark wood. Several tables were gathered on the ride side near the bar where several people were and to the left were pool tables and sofas arranged a fire place, a few mages passed out on the couches. Over the fire place hung an orange and black banner with the Guild's symbol in black in the center.

It had a rather homey feel, certainly better than cheap motels he stayed in when it rained.

"Young cub, over here," He looked over to the bar area where the master sat. He glanced around a moment longer and finally made his way over there. The master patted a stool next to him and Coyote sat down with his back to the bar, he leaned back and rested his elbows there.

"I take it Yerma was the one who brought you here?" He finally said after a moment of silence.

Coyote glanced at him, "Yeah, how did you know?"

"I know my cubs and Yerma is a spirited one, she loves this place so and takes whatever chance she has to bring more in to the fold… Hehe, I'd wager that a small portion of this guild were mages she dragged here," He said with a chuckle, "My name is March, March Highlander, but you can call me Master March."

Coyote didn't respond to that and instead looked around the Guild.

"It's common courtesy to give your name to someone who has given you theirs," Master March stated, "Just because you're not a member of my guild doesn't mean I won't take my cane to your head for being a rude little brat."

Coyote deadpanned. A drop of sweat hung over his head after the old man's threat. He grumbled and scratched the back of his head, "My name is Coyote Egret…"

"…Heh, a dog and a bird in one, that's new."

A large anger mark replaced the sweat drop and Coyote turned on the Master, shouting, "What the hell was that? You makin' fun of my name?" The master sat there silently, ignoring the growling young man.

"… You're Exceed friend seems to be enjoying himself over there," March said out of the blue. This caught Coyote off guard; his anger at the Master's ribbing vanishing. He thought over what the old man said and looked around the guild hall and he finally caught sight of him. Tobi was happily enjoying the company of a group of women, grinning widely while acting like an innocent cat.

"…Perverted bastard…" Coyote said dryly, shaking his head slightly.

Master March chuckled and ran his fingers through his already straight beard, "With as many colorful characters as we have, he's not that bad… And the women can take care of themselves if he gets fresh." The old man turned in his stool and folded his hands in front of him on the hook of his cane. "Feel like joining this guild, ma boy?"

Coyote looked at the guild master as if he had three heads but March did not falter, he only kept looking at the guild. He continued, "Everybody has to find their place sooner or later. Having guild mates makes the search a little less lonely and boring," He said in an almost sagely manner.

Coyote sat there for a few moments before he closed his eyes and sighed, "I can't believe I'm doing this… Sure… I'll join," He was rather quiet.

"Hmm? What was that?" Master March asked.

"I'll join…" Coyote repeated just a bit louder.

"You'll have to be louder, ma boy, my hearing isn't what it used to be," Master March said. He reached over, "Taking that blasted bandana off of your face will help, and you look ridiculous anyway."

"Wait, N -" He shouted in protest and even tried to move out of the way but it was too late. The bandana was taken away and he fell to the ground with a thud. He seized up, clutching at his nose as his eyes widened considerably. All eyes went to him and Yerma and Alistar jogged over.

"What happened?" Yerma asked.

"Coyote?" Alistar asked. The Wind Dragon Slayer did not respond. His eyes widened and his eyes became little black dots, his right eye twitched rapidly.

"Ah… Ahhh… Hnn…"

"What's wrong with him, Al?" Marsh asked, walking up to Coyote. Tobi floated over with his wings and his eyes widened considerably as well, his mouth falling open seeing that the Wind Dragon Slayer's bandana was gone.

"Oh no!"

"Ah… Ahhh… ahh…"

"What is that urchin doing, causing a scene like that?" Calin inquired from his table, taking a sip from his tea.

"Everyone brace for impact! Hit the deck! Run away! Do something!" Tobi yelled, flying around in circles.

"Ahh… ahhh…." The wind seemed to pick up around Coyote…

"**ACHOO!"**

"WAAAAAH!"

* * *

The windows cracked and blown open along with the front doors and the entire guild seemed to jump. Several mages were thrown outside and sent tumbling across the ground, some unfortunately went as far as the slope of the hill that the guild hall was built upon and even further, as a powerful gust burst from the guild hall and up through its chimney.

"Ahem… You'll also be paying for these damages."

"Achoo! Damn -Achoo! - It Achoo! Fu -" **Crack!** "Ow!"

* * *

**Ending Notes...**

Kind of a two-parter beginning, these next few chapters is when we really get in to introducing the OCs we were given. Certain OCs were mentioned actually and there's more then that :)

Drop of Review if you like it :) We'll be back!


	4. Aftermath of a Typhoon AKA Cleaning

**Author's Note…**

**So, we're here with another chapter. I was so happy with the feedback and that I've had a great couple days that I wanted to get this out earlier than planned. **

**As promised, this chapter and the next couple will be getting in to introducing characters. If there is any problem with how I portray them, their personality, bring it up with me and we'll resolve it.**

I don't own these characters and don't use'em without the owner's permission…

**Starphire** – Akiza Izinski

**Kai** – FairyTailWolf6

**Lariette** – La Maitresse Dame

**Nicole** – Me

**Nana** – The Guardian 1412

* * *

Several hours later and the wizard guild, Hurricane Tiger was still at work cleaning up the mess caused by Coyote and his devastating sneeze. Tables were thrown about, some were even smashed, crack or dented and the mages that unfortunately been caught in the crossfire of the wild debris were sat down at tables, delirious and groaning while others were lucky enough to be unconscious, in the sense that they didn't have cleaning duty like the rest. Windows were smashed, the floor had wet spots from overturned drinks, and appearances were disheveled. It looked as though a typhoon had blown through. It wasn't that far off actually...

A girl dressed in a black tank top with red lightening patterns and a pair of black denim shorts was busy tossing pieces of wood aside so that she could get to the spilled booze underneath. She wore a pair of wrist length black fingerless gloves and a pair of knee high black boots. The silver dragon necklace around her neck swung about freely. Her normally waist length black hair was tied up in a ponytail, she swept her bangs aside, tuck a few strands behind her ear.

"This is no fun at all!" Starphire complained throwing her cleaning cloth down on to the floor with a wet plop as it was already damp from cleaning. She huffed, "How come Yerma gets to give the new guy a freaking tour and skip out on cleaning this place?" She asked, mainly grumbling to herself. She pouted slightly and poked at the floor, "Not fair… I could be having fun right now…"

"Take a saying from your brother's book, my spirited cub, and play with the cards you are dealt," Master March said, stopping near her.

"That applies to a fight and when you're in a bad spot!" She replied, "Not when you're stuck cleaning up someone else's mess!"

Though his lips were not visible, his beard moved as though he was smirking underneath that greyish-white hair, "And having to clean just happened to be in the cards for you, now play your hand and by that I mean…" He held out her cleaning cloth to her, "Clean the guild hall."

Starphire looked at the elderly guild master for a few long seconds hoping he would take pity on her free spirit and let her skip out on having to clean, but he stayed still as a statue. He didn't relent even for a split second. She finally sighed and took the cloth back, mumbling a 'Yes, Master March' under her breath.

"Thank you, my dear," He said kindly, "When you're done with this would you be so kind as to help the others over there in cleaning the debris?"

Starphire smiled and gave the Master a two finger salute, "You got it!"

"Hehe, See now? You spirit shows itself even when having to clean," He nodded his head and walked away to assess the remainder of the damages and help the rest of the guild. Starphire kept at it and collected the debris of the tables and broken mugs carrying them outside to the bonfire pit behind the guild hall where she tossed them inside.

"Coming through!" Starphire turned to see Alistar carrying several large pieces of broken wood from the tables and Marsh flying behind him carrying smaller bits that were large enough for him to carry easily.

"Hey there, Al!" She greeted him, patting him on the back, "How was that job with Yerma?"

"Starphire!" He said, "You're looking as beautiful as ever," He said. Despite her large, friendly grin an anger mark appeared on her forehead. She raised a shaking fist, wanting desperately to hit him…

"And you and that joke… Never gets old…" She forced out, her lips twitching.

"Heh…" He chuckled a bit, throwing the wooden on to the growing pile. "Well, it was all right but meeting Coyote was probably the most exciting part of it."

"Yeah, I heard he tried to take on the whole Southern Wolves guild, is that true?" Starphire asked leaning in with a look of interest on her face. Alistar nodded and her eyes lit up, "Wow! That's so wild! I definitely want to party with that guy!" She said with a wide grin.

"Ehehe…" Alistar chuckled sheepishly, scratching the back of his head, "I don't think he would feel the same... or be as enthusiastic…"

Starphire blinked and tilted her head, "What's that supposed to mean?" Marsh hovered down on to her shoulder made a pouting face.

"Dog boy is mean!" the little exceed said. She smiled, scratching him under his chin while Alistar lightly shook his head, though he smiled all the same, telling the little exceed that Coyote wasn't that bad, but Marsh was not so easily swayed, "But he called me a crybaby!" The little exceed whined, "…Big doody head," Marsh grumbled, pouting again.

"Aww, don't worry about it Marsh, if the mean old doggy gets in your face again, just tell me!" Starphire said reassuringly with a wide grin on her face. She hit her fist in to her palm, "I'll deck'im right in the nose! I'll hit him and he'll hit the ground!" She punched at the air rapidly in a boxing style. Marsh giggled and hugged her cheek.

"Thanks Star-chan!"

"No problem Marsh!" Starphire replied scratching the little Exceed's behind its ear. Alistar nodded his head and reached back to tighten his bandana around his eyes. Though he was without his sight he could feel the happiness and smiles. He was glad Marsh had friends he could be so affectionate with.

"C'mon Marsh, we got more work to do, buddy!"

"Aye!"

Marsh brought out his wings again and hovered through the air following Alistar back in to the guild leaving her by the bonfire pit. She smiled after them and stretched her arms over her head, bending back a bit.

"Aaaah!" Starphire sighed in relief, stretching a bit more, "I might deck that jerk anyway, leaving us with this mess," She said more to herself, smirking. She jogged back to the guild to help with the rest of the cleaning detail.

* * *

"Seven attempts and no luck at all…" a young man sighed, running his hand over top of his faux hawk. His playful green eyes were lacking a bit of luster, and his usual grin was replaced with a frown. He was clad in green camo pants tucked into black combat boots, with a black shirt that showed off his muscular frame.

Kai plopped down at the bar, or at least what was left of the bar after the incident, and rested his cheek in his palm, leaning on his elbow. Taking one look at the young man, one could tell something was weighing on his mind. Some of the other guild members took notice but made no move to help, instead keeping to their tasks at hand. Seeing him like this was beginning to become a regular thing. Most went back to work on the guild while others began shake hands, rambling on about a bet.

"Someone sure looks down in the dumps…" A voice female voice reached his ears and broke him out of his trance. He looked up and standing there was a girl with shoulder length purple hair. She was slender with an average bust, slightly tan skin and rectangle wire-rimmed glasses. She was wearing a white dress shirt with her sleeves rolled up, a loose purple tie and black skirt. He didn't respond to her right away, but finally his lips turned up in to a small smile. He grabbed her hand and kissed the top of it.

"Ah, my Nicole-chan, whose beauty lights up the room even under the darkest clouds," He said, kissing her hand again, "Perfect timing as always. My day is looking rather dim…" He sighed again. Nicole shook her head a bit, same old Kai. She set a glass in front of him.

"Not today, hotshot. Here's a drink for you," She told him and he thanked her. He sipped at it, "You sure don't look like the '_man who will brighten my day'_. What's got you so down in the dumps, lover boy?"

"Ah, it's not that important," Kai said, trying to wave off her worries but she didn't buy it and asked him yet again what had him so down. He looked away thinking of a valid excuse and found one, "Mah mah, why so abrasive Nicole-chan?" He wagged his finger, "You're so cute but...

She looked at him for a few seconds longer before she finally flicked his forehead causing him to reel back, feigning pain as he rubbed the spot she had struck, "Thanks for the dating advice," she said in sarcastic manner, "And that's not important." She waved her hand, along with his question, "So tell me what's got you so down already Kai?"

He sighed quietly and chugged the rest of his drink, letting the alcohol do the talking for him this time. He smiled, a light red dusting his cheeks a few second later. "Alright alright… Seven just doesn't seem to be my lucky number…" He shrugged his shoulders, "I can understand at most four but seven?" He sighed heavily yet again, almost in an over-dramatic fashion. Nicole raised an eyebrow at his response, having mild confusion written on her face. She motioned her hand for him to continue, wanting him to elaborate. "Seven just wasn't the right number for me. I struck out yet again, this makes seven times."

"What the hell? That's it?!" Nicole bellowed out scaring not only Kai, but the surrounding members of the guild. She face-palmed, but at the same time smiled at him, "Tell you what, I know the perfect lemon head that should get you out of this funk…" and before Kai could ask what was up, Nicole hopped over top of the counter-top and sped towards the fire place. Wanting to know what she was on about; he quickly sped off after the purple haired bartender.

The guild wasn't completely in shambles. The fire place was still intact and so was the coffee table right in front of it with a blond haired girl still sprawled out on top of it. Despite all of the noise and even the sneeze that nearly blow the roof off of the guild hall, she was still sleeping peacefully in the same spot since this morning.

The girl's blond hair was in two pony tails down to her mid back, with a slender figure and an average bust size. She wore a maid outfit complete with grey stocking and the ruffle hat. Mages worked around her wanting to get cleaning detail over with while others just observed the blond maid sleep through the madness.

"How does she do it?" One person asked, scratching their head at the blond maid. Others just shrugged their shoulders, stilling trying to figure out the enigma that was the blond maid's sleeping pattern.

Nana finally sat up, rubbing her eyes in response to her 'radar'. Nana growled the moment she caught the sight of purple hair.

"Oi Baka-Lemon…!" The purple blur was getting closer and closer but Nana noticed something weird, especially since she was looking towards the ceiling…

"In coming!" Everyone began to back away from the oncoming missile that was Nicole, heading straight towards the groggy maid. The table was broken in half upon impact, the halves and debris that was once its legs went flying in different directions. A dust cloud puffed up, blocking the view of Nicole and Nana from the rest of the spectators. The sound of a blade cutting through the air could be heard, followed by several more. Lights flashed inside the thick cloud of smoke, signaling some kind of fight between the two but no one dared get close to the tussle for fear of their own safety.

"What the hell you crap plum cake!?" Nana yelled out from the smoke cloud, another few slashing sounds following her voice. A few more grunts and then another clash. All of the debris and smoke finally cleared enough for them to be seen.

"Geez, can't an old friend say hi Baka-lemon head…?" Nicole had a small smile forming on her face, as her foot had just blocked a black ninjato.

"Yeah sure," Nana yawned obnoxiously, making a tick mark appear on Nicole's forehead, "Just tell me where this old friend is and then I can go back to sleep…" Nana yawned once more before taking her blade and ungracefully falling on her butt. Nicole stumbled forward from the sudden lack of an opposing force but managed to catch herself. She straightened out her appearance and rested her hands on her hips as she looked down at her fellow bartender.

Silence followed the two clashing beauties. The rest of the guild stood around them waiting for something else to occur. Both of them were soon surrounded by a faint aura and took their eyes off of one another and onto the poor unsuspecting spectators.

"WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU ALL LOOKING AT?! GET BACK TO WORK!" There was no response needed, for everyone surrounding them disappeared quickly and went back to work sweeping, dusting and the like. They whistled innocently with halos over their heads as they worked at almost double the speed they were previously. The area was completely cleared, except for Nicole, Nana and Kai, whom seemed to be confused by the whole situation.

The purple haired bartender finally sighed, seeing that the three of them were finally able to talk alone. "All right now, you're going to help him out lemon hea -"

"Bite me plum cake," Nana immediately interrupted and yawned loudly before lying back down on her back and crossing her legs. "I don't have time for another one of your emergencies; I need to catch up on my sleep."

Her eyes narrowed in annoyance, Nicole sighed and composed herself, opting to save the guild hall more damages. Pressing her glasses closer to her face she loomed over the dazed maid and started tapping her foot. "C'mon already lemon-head, if you help out with this I'll shorten your tab by about two thousand jewels…"

"…Zzz…Zzz…"

A tick marked sprouted on Nicole's forehead. Seeing this and remembering the one too many cat fights he had been dragged in to from being too close for his own good. He took four steps back.

"Zzz...zzz"

"I swear I'm goin to kill you…"

"…Zzz…dream on…zzz… baka-plum cake…zzz"

A deep dark aura soon surrounded the purple haired bartender. Kai took yet another four steps back and made it seem as though he casually tipped a table on to its side. Nicole glared down at the sleeping blond, her right eyebrow twitching. Just when she had been in such a great mood today too…

She scratched her chin while she thought over the many scenarios that could take place and the various things she could do to get the lemon head to help Kai. An idea finally came to her and she went over to Nana and leaned down that she could whisper in her ear. She stopped and waited for some reaction but the blond maid merely snored obnoxiously loud and rolled on to her side.

She sighed, "No luck here, Kai… Sorry."

The young man smiled, "No worries! That say that the seventh time is the charm but I think that eight is more my lucky number! Thanks for your help, Nicole-chan!" And with that said, he waved to the purple haired girl and turned to go back to the bar. She heard the distinct sound of physical blow followed by a pained groan. When the arguing began, he tuned it out.

Before he reached the bar, he spied a rather bewitching girl. Sitting at the undamaged end of the bar she sipped from a cup of steaming drink with a novel in hand. She twirled a strand of her wavy blond hair around her index finger. She wore a red lace corset top, a black ruffled skirt, knee-length red stockings and half black boots. From where he stood he could see golden hairclips in her bangs. A wide smile slowly spread across his face and made his way over to her.

"Hello, my lovely," He said, leaning on the bar to her right. She didn't even spare him a glance but he continued anyway, "Would you be so kind as to grace me with your name?"

She shut her book with a snap, "It's common courtesy to give your name first," She replied curtly.

"Kai Cardwell," He held his hand out to her, "It's a pleasure to meet you." She cast a side-long glance at his hand and gripped it briefly as to shake it.

"Lariette Malone," She stated.

"A beautiful name for an equally beautiful girl," He said, planting a kiss on her petite hand. Her eyes narrowed ever so slightly and she wrenched her hand out of his grasp. She did enjoy his praise to an extent, his touching her, even her hand, highly annoyed her.

"Is there something you want? I'm very busy," She told him, crossing her legs and folding her arms.

"I was hoping you would accompany me tonight on a date? Dinner, danc -" He was silenced by Lariette clapping a hand down over his mouth. Despite this, she could feel him smiling against her hand.

"No," She replied bluntly, "Kai Cardwell, Hurricane Tiger's playboy. If I were to ask you how many women you've flirted with today only, what would your answer be? Six? Seven?" She wasn't that far off actually. Lariette took her hand away and wiped it with a handkerchief she had on her person.

Kai looked at her for a bit longer before he finally answered, "I suppose you're right actually..." He said, running a hand through his faux-hawk, "Though I hope that doesn't mean I've lost my chance with a beauty like you."

Lariette spared him a glance. He thought he had a chance to being with? She stood up and straightened out her skirt, "If you'll excuse me. I'd like to get a bit more reading done." With that she collected her book, left money on the bar counter. She turned to him, "Have a nice day," and with that said she walked away. Kai watched her, slightly bewildered. Yes, yet again he had been rejected but this one felt a bit different. A smirk found its way to his lips and he knocked on the bar top twice…

"Lariette Malone…" He said quietly. He nodded his head and walked away to help some of the guild members out.

* * *

**And that's all for Chapter 3 everyone! Next chapter we'll be introducing more characters and more after that.**

**Again, if there are any problems with how your character is portrayed, talk to me. If they're good now, tell me. That helps a lot.**


	5. Coyote's Initiation

**Author's Notes...  
**

**Okay!** More Character intros this time around! I don't have a lot to say. Feedback was great for last chapter. I have some news for all my awesome readers out there but I'll save it for the end of the chapter.**  
**

**Characters... **Don't use'em without the owner's permission!

Talia - **rlb190**

Rosa - **leapingleemer **

Jin - **Apostle of Regeneration  
**

* * *

"This is such bull… Paying off a debt… Make the freaking cats pay it, they caused it…" Coyote grumbled. He walked down Freesia's main street on his way to the guild. His shoulders were hunched, his hands were stuff in to his pockets and his face was in an even deeper scowl than usual. The air he gave off even managed to scare nearby children. He brought a hand out and scratched at his lower abdomen, more specifically the symbol he received to mark him as a mage of Hurricane Tiger, his chosen color being silver.

"Oi, don't blame your troubles on me, teme," Tobi said from above, flying outside of Coyote's allergy zone, "It's your own fault for being allergic to cats."

"Well I can't help that! It's genetic or something or other…" He quieted down towards the end, far too annoyed with the happenings yesterday to argue with the orange exceed. He shuddered at the memory. The old man had assigned Yerma to be his "_Tour guide._" Her job was to show him around Freesia and maybe help him find a reasonably priced apartment, nothing more and nothing less. But instead he was dragged to every single candy shop in town and even one outside! The girl's pockets were loaded down by the end of the day and she had been talking so fast he barely remembered half the things she had said.

"Tch… Hyper girls… Smart ass blind guys… An asshole pretty boy… A debt to pay and the damages could hardly be considered _my fault_…What next?" He shook his head, "At least I'm not paired with any of them…" That was a more positive thought. He tried to focus on that and not the fact that he was going to be stuck inside of a guild that smelled of cats. Maybe if he was lucky his devastating sneeze and the cleaning detail that he saw before he left that day would've gotten rid of it.

He took his hand out of his pocket to scratch the symbol which had been bugging him when he felt two significantly smaller hands grab hold of his.

"Eh? What the?" He looked down and his eyes met a pair of large grey eyes.

* * *

Hurricane Tiger was alive with activity in the early morning. Finally having cleaned the entire guild, including the upper floor which had somehow been hit as well, the guild and its mages could finally get back to business taking jobs, drinking and the like. Yerma was happily playing a game with Marsh while Alistar conversed with Nicole, the purple haired bartender with Nana nowhere to be found. Starphire was sitting on the ground in the couch area rubbing a black furred canine's belly and laughing as it licked her cheek. Calin was busying himself with a bit of light reading. Kai held up a job flyer for Lariette to see but she ignored him completely for her novel.

Master March was chatting with some of Hurricane Tiger's other mages. The guild hall's front doors opened with a slight creak and all eyes went there to see Coyote standing there with a rather annoyed, exasperated expression, his shoulders slumped. There was someone with him. Eyes traveled down to see a small girl, maybe eight or nine years of age with large cloudy grey eyes and blond wavy hair and she was holding on to Coyote's left hand with both of hers.

There was a long pause. All eyes were on them and Coyote's eyes were everywhere, never focusing on anyone or anything for a more than a second. He attempted to sneer but his lips quivered and made him much less frightening, if at all. He couldn't possibly try to look tough with a little girl holding his hand and having every guild member's eyes on him.

"Nicole, contact the police," Master March finally said.

"Right."

Coyote's eyes widened, "Hold on a damn second!" He shouted, his cheeks tinting red in his embarrassment. He lifted the girl off of the ground and placed his other hand on her head, trying to push her away and pull his arm free, "This isn't what it looks like!"

The guild still watched him, Nicole with a communication lacrima in hand, as he swung his arm wildly in attempts to free himself. The girl was on him like a leech. He finally stopped, panting lightly. He held his arm out to his side and the girl was hanging there with the same expression as if nothing had just occurred.

"Get… off… Me… Dammit!" Coyote snarled between his pants.

Alistar's lips turned up in to a light smirk. Starphire's shoulders were shaking lightly. Kai had his hand clamped firmly over his mouth as he watched the scene, but he couldn't contain it and let the slightest sound leave him. Soon enough the guild hall was giggling, chuckling and within seconds almost all of them erupted in to full blown laughter, leaving an utterly bewildered Coyote standing in the guild hall.

Even Master March was laughing. He waved his hand passively, "Ah, very well done as always, Talia-chan," He said, "You can let him go now, little cub." Coyote snapped out of his confusion briefly feeling the weight leave his arm and found the girl had let go. She took some steps forward before she was engulfed by a cloud of smoke. A slightly taller girl emerged with longer hair.

Hurricane Tiger went in to applause while some continued to chuckle and laugh.

"Fun as always!" Kai said with a wide grin.

"Yay! Hah hah!" Yerma cheered.

Starphire clapped for a while longer, "Oh man, your face was priceless, new guy!" Even the canine by her side barked happily.

Coyote merely stood there, his arms hanging limply by his sides. Still he was in a state of utter confusion. He slowly raised his arms after a moment and ran his hands through his hair; he spoke, "What the hell is going on?" The blond girl turned around and looked up at him with a smirk, folding her arms in front of her chest.

"No need to worry yourself, my boy!" Master March said, tapping his cane on the floor twice to get his attention, "This is a prank we like to pull on the new male members of the guild as an official welcome, many of them have gone through this…" He said, gesturing around the guild hall, "Meet Talia Armoure."

Coyote looked down at the girl and noticed the symbol on her inner left ankle. He closed his eyes, unable to cope. The symbol was Hurricane Tiger's mark which only meant one thing and that was he would be in the same guild as this brat. Wonderful…

He stuffed his hands in to his pockets and opened his eyes again, looking over the blond. He finally spoke, "You don't look that much older. What are you? Eleven? Twelve?" The girl's eyes narrowed and her triumphant look changed to one of annoyance. In the blink of an eye she closed the distance between them and delivered a swift kick to Coyote's knee. His eyes widened and grabbed his injured knee, hopping up and down on his other leg.

"Ow! What the hell!?" He shouted in protest. The girl pulled him down by his shirt and locked eyes with him.

"I'm nineteen, baka!" She yelled. Coyote opened his mouth to retort but she reared her head back and headbutted him in the nose, knocking him on his rear with a thud.

"Ah!" Coyote clutched his nose with his other hand, "Freaking hell!"

Talia turned on her heel, turned her nose up and walked away, leaving him lying on the ground. None of the guild members moved to help. Alistar chuckled and turned to Yerma.

"Think we should've told him about her temper?" He asked.

Yerma shook her head, "Where's the fun in that?" She replied with a grin and a mischievous chuckle. Marsh clapped and still giggled.

"Dog boy, got hurt, hehehe…" Alistar petted the little exceed's head.

Coyote lay there on the ground, visibly shaking though no one could tell if it were from pain or anger. Tobi flew in to the guild outside of his allergy zone. The orange Exceed looked down at the Dragon Slayer and shook his head, "Beaten up by a little girl... Strongest Dragon Slayer indeed..." He flew over to Yerma.

Master March his way over to Coyote who remained on the ground. He was no longer clutching his nose but covering his face with both hands. He tapped his cane in hopes of getting the boys attention but it was for not. He cleared his throat and began to talk despite this, "Ah, my apologies, that actually was not supposed to happen," He said, "But most people aren't stupid enough to insult her."

"I wouldn't have…" Coyote said, his words slightly muffled behind his hand. He shot up, bringing his hands away to reveal a face of rage, spitting fire with a demonic aura around him. "IF SOMEBODY WOULD'VE TOLD ME ABOUT THIS STUPID _INITIATION _SHIT IN THE FIRST PLACE!" Master March was unfazed by the young Dragon Slayer's rage, standing perfectly still with even batting an eye. He waited for the rant to pass. Coyote was panting heavily, a large anger mark pulsing on his forehead once he had finally stopped.

The elderly guild master stroked his beard, smiling he said, "Mah, but if someone had told you ahead of time, then this wouldn't have been nearly as funny, now would it?"

"That's your excuse!?" Coyote yelled, "It wasn't funny for me! I got hit in the face!" Master March placed a hand on the Dragon Slayer's shoulder.

"Best not to dwell on the past, my boy," He said. Coyote protested by saying it had only happened five minutes ago but the Master seemed to ignore him, "And focus on the present, you still have the debt to repay," Coyote deadpanned, "Fifty-thousand jewels isn't just going to appear out of nowhere, young cub! You had best get to work!" And with that he walked away to speak with other members of the guild, leaving a gaping Coyote.

Alistar walked over and threw an arm over his shoulders, "C'mon pal, a drink always cheers me up!" Coyote didn't protest and was led to the bar where Alistar sat him down far enough from Marsh that his allergies wouldn't act up and yet close enough that they could speak if need be, or Alistar could at least. The Wind Dragon Slayer's head suddenly hit the bar top with a dull thud.

"Something troubling you?"

"I'm really beginning to regret my decision… Really I am…" He groaned. He raised his head enough to look at who was talking to him and meet the green eyes of a purple haired bartender.

"Master March won't even think about letting you resign until you repay that debt of yours," She said, a hint of amusement in her voice which Coyote glared at her for. She smirked down at him and placed a mug on front of him, "It's on the house, dog boy, can't have you spending money you don't have," She said with a smirk.

Coyote grumbled underneath his breath, taking the mug and drinking some. He paused and brought the drink away from his lips. He looked in to the mug, "It's just water…" He said dryly.

Nicole scoffed and said, "Of course it is! What? Do you really think I'm gonna serve a destructive jerk like you alcohol? And for _free_?" Coyote sneered but after having such a troublesome morning he didn't want to start a fight with her surprisingly enough, he couldn't find it himself to retort and resigned himself to drink his free water. He didn't want to start a fight with _this _girl; he had to save his anger and frustration for one in particular…

* * *

"That was really funny, Talia-chan!" a girl spoke in a cheery, soft tone, "But… Don't you think you went just a little overboard? You know… hitting him?" She asked. She wore a white shirt under a gold-colored leather jacket and black leather shorts. Red stockings went up to her knees from her black leather shoes. She sat on one of the black couches near the unlit fireplace and in her arms she held a gray and white furred exceed who was happily eating a cookie.

Talia sat in an adjacent couch, her arms folded and a rather annoyed expression on her face, "Ah, he got what he deserved…" She said, "Calling me short… Baka!" She suddenly exclaimed, causing the brunette to jump and tighten her grip on the exceed, making her drop her cookie.

"Oh! Sorry, Faye-chan!" she quickly apologized. The exceed in her arms sobbed, causing her to quickly think on her feet as to keep her friend from crying, "I think Yerma has a whole lot of sweets!" And with that said, Faye perked up quickly.

"Yay!" She summoned her wings and quickly flew over to the green haired mage at the bar.

The brunette smiled, running her fingers through her shoulder length, slightly messy hair. She looked at her friend was absentmindedly looking at the unlit fireplace, swinging her legs back and forth.

"Talia-chan," She said to get her attention and succeeded, "He was just confused on your age… He never really called you short…"

"It was implied, Rosa!" She yelled again causing her friend to jump again, "Such a baka!" She folded her arms tighter.

"That's it!" There was a sudden angered cry and before either of them knew what was happening, Talia was hoisted in to the air by her head. She was turned around, coming face to face with a not so happy, scowling Coyote, "Oi, midget!" The comment didn't do anything for Talia's disposition, her face scrunching up in anger, "I like to give everybody one chance before I knock them out. I let you hit me and now you're over here calling me an idiot! I count that as two chances!" He snarled, holding two fingers in front of her face.

"I never would've guessed it! You can count!" Talia replied hotly.

Both of them glared at one another with intensity, electric bolts clashing between them. Rosa shook slightly and slowly raised her visibly shaking hand, murmuring and stuttering a soft, "Excuse me."

Coyote turned to her, "Eh?" She jumped a bit, unable to look away, "Well? What do you want?" She attempted to speak but all that left her were stutters, "Spit it out, woman!" And with that, she fainted. Coyote's eyes widened.

"Oi! Wake up!"

"Don't bully, Rosa-chan, you big baka!" Talia yelled, trying to pry his hand off of her head.

"H-Hey! Hold on one damn second, I didn't do anything to her!" Coyote shouted in protest, looking around wildly to see all eyes on him again, causing him to blush a bit, "What the hell are you all lookin' at?" He suddenly grunted, lurching forward as the air was knocked from his lungs by a swift kick to his stomach courtesy of Talia.

"What is going on down here? What is with all of this ruckus?" Master March asked, walking down from the upper floor.

Talia pointed Coyote, "He made Rosa faint!"

"Shut up!" Coyote barked, "I didn't do it on purpose!"

Master March's eyes opened eye so slightly, "So, you did indeed cause her to faint?"

"Well… Yeah…" Coyote was at a loss for words. He had just wanted to teach that Talia girl a lesson for not only hitting him but repeatedly calling him an idiot, not cause some girl to faint. He didn't even know what he had done! She tried to say something and he was trying to encourage her to speak! Master Marsh slowly nodded his head.

"I see… Starphire, is Kai feeling well enough to run?" She nodded and happily ruffled the fur of the black wolf at her side. She patted her thighs and held up her right hand. The wolf hopped up and smacked its paw against her hand, "Good. Coyote, five laps around Freesia, follow the numbered wooden markers. Kai will keep you on track during your run."

"How come I have to go?" Kai asked.

"Not you Kai, the dog," Master March replied, motioning to the black wolf.

"What exactly is the difference?" Lariette asked dryly. Kai clutched at his heart and feigned being hurt by her comment, going on a melodramatic rant that ended with him yet again trying his hand at flirting with her while she blatantly ignored him for her novel.

Master March snapped his fingers twice and the black wolf padded over to him. He scratched it behind its ear and Kai happily barked in response to the affection, "You will have a five second head start," He informed Coyote.

"H-Hey! C'mon, can't we ta -" Master March interrupted him by saying four, beginning the countdown. At three, Coyote took a step back, he took yet another step at two and the wolf lowered its heads, readying itself for the chase. Coyote smirked, "Hold on! I could take that dumb dog easily!"

"If you hurt my dog I will shove your head straight up your ass, you jerk!" Starphire threatened, having to be held back by several members of the guild as to keep her from carrying out her threat.

"Ne, calm down, my wild cub, this will be punishment enough," Master March assured her. Kai the wolf glowed with a white magic energy and suddenly grew in size, its fur became more wild, it's already sharp teeth lengthened and its eyes glowed red, "One…" Master March said.

"Dammit!" Coyote turned on his heels and burst out of the doors and slid in to the streets.

"Good luck with your exercise, my boy!" Master March called after him. Kai barked loudly before bounding after him. The Guild master nodded his head and walked to the bar without a word.

"Don't you think that was a bit much, Master?" Alistar asked.

Master March stroked his beard and hummed quietly, "Hmm… Nope, seems fair to me." He smiled. "It's always fun to mess with the new cubs."

* * *

**Elsewhere...**

He watched the group from afar, hidden from their sight in the shadows of the trees under a starless night sky. What little light they had emanated from their fire and the lacrima lanterns set up in a circle around the campsite, but even that wasn't enough. A small portion of the thieves sat around the fire with weapons by their sides, he spied the two vehicles they had and saw a single person in each sleeping on the driver's side of the cabin, no doubt for a swift getaway if they were to be discovered.

His green eyes lit up with amusement seeing one of them visibly flinch following a rustling in the brush and their eyes dart around rapidly as to find what had made the rustling noise. He reached up and grasped a thin branch which he broke with ease.

"What was that?"

"Check it out, idiot!" the leader hissed, picking up his dual magic pistols.

The thief sidled over to the source of the noise. He gripped his broadsword with both hands, though that did nothing for the shaking. He swung with all of his might, closing his eyes and swinging wildly. After a swift slap to the back of his head, he was brought back to his senses by one of the others who, after cursing at him, brought his attention to the spot he had been swinging.

Nothing was there.

They heads whipped around at the sound of a dull_ thunk _and then another branch snapping.

"Someone is out there," one of the thieves hissed to the leader. The leader made a disgruntled noise and slowed his breathing down, trying to keep himself in a calmer state than his idiot lackeys. They all jumped and whipped their heads around at a dangerous speed. Their magic vehicle jumped and creaked, but as soon as it started it slowly rocked to a complete stop. All was still…

"Ohm?... Ohm, answer me!" The leader yelled, edging closer to the front door, "Ohm, what the hell… is… going…" He threw the door opened and his guns at the ready to fire but the moment the door opened his eyes widened in shock and his arms slacked. There was no one inside but the passenger's door was open…

"Ahh!" They whirled around as a startled and scared cry reached their ears only to see the other vehicle doing the same. The leader wasted no time and immediately rushed to the passenger door, throwing it open. Yet again their getaway driver was missing. He jumped in to the front and stepped out of the driver's side. He looked around with both of his magic guns pointed in front of him.

"Dammit! Ohm! Saloon! Where the hell are you?" He yelled, "If this is some fucking prank, it isn't funny!" He waited for a response. His breathing increased and swung his left arm back, leaving a shallow dent in the side of the vehicle with the force of his hit.

"Dammit! I want everyone on alert! Explosive lacri – What?!" He walked from around the vehicle and jumped back, visibly startled. All members of his crew were gone, some of their weapons were lying on the ground but they were nowhere to be found. He ran on to the scene and frantically searched for footprints. He found none.

"What the fuck is going on?!" He yelled, pulling at his hair. He froze at the sound of a twig breaking. He whirled around, pointing his guns in every direction, "Come out! Come out you bastard! Fight me!" He paled considerably as several bodies fell from above. He looked them over and it was then he realized that they were his crew. None of them were dead but they ghostly white, shaking, hugging themselves and whimpering. His second in command was on his side in the fetal position, murmuring incoherently.

"What the hell happened to you!? Speak up! Where is this bastard?" the leader screamed, demanding that they tell him.

"That was rather fun," the leader froze hearing this. He stiffened and his grip tightened on his guns "Such dangerous criminals you are," the male said in sarcastic manner, "Ransacking an elderly woman's house and beating her husband only to steal a few antique item. Yes, I'm sure that will do wonders for your reputation, hehehe."

The leader stiffened. He gritted his teeth. No one attacks his crew _and _insults them like that! Nobody! He whirled around with a look of utter rage on his face, both guns trained on his new target. A young man with platinum blond hair and a slender face dressed in black stood next to the fire. Without thinking he pulled both triggers and fired bullets one after another. He hadn't known what was happening but as he came back to reality he discovered he was yelling, screaming his lungs out.

He stopped firing.

The young man was surrounded by a dark red aura with wisps of black. In a second it dropped from his head to his feet and a dozen or so bullets dropped on to the hard ground with a clatter. The leader of the thieves paled considerably, his hands shook violently and his grip slackened so that his guns hit the ground next and he soon followed, falling back on his rear.

The young man walked up to him and held out his hand, "I spent this entire day tracking you lot down and I'm quite tired so just hand over that item you stole and I'll take my leave." The man merely stared up at him, gaping like a fish. Small noises escaped him, he tried to form words but all that came out were garbled whimpers as he slowly sidled back to put distance between them but with a single step the young man was there again.

The young man waved his hand in front of the leader's face, "Hello? You talked so bravely before, calling _me _the coward…Has the cat got your tongue?" He chuckled lightly but again received no response. He looked around, "I suppose it's in one of these trucks then?" the leader slowly nodded and he nodded in turn.

He opened both vehicles' backs and finally found the item in question. He jumped out and looked down at the leader was still on the ground, looking up at him fearfully. His smile widened ever so slightly…

"I was watching you the closest of all… It was your idea to set up these light lacrima… the fire. It made your campsite incredibly easy to find. I wondered for a while why you had done that then it hit me… You're scared of the dark," He chuckled a bit, running a hand through his platinum blond hair, "The facial twitching and the widening of your eyes tell me that I'm right. How lucky…" He slowly raised one hand as he walked away, placing the tips of his middle and index finger together.

He uttered one simple word that moment he was outside of the circle of lacrima, "Blackout." He snapped his fingers and the light behind him, the lacrima and the fire, all were extinguished.

"AAAAAAHHHH!"

* * *

"Here you go, madam," The young man presented the elderly woman with the recovered item. After staying at an inn for the remainder of the night he made his way back in to town to complete his job. He finally reached the home of the elderly woman.

"Oh thank you, thank you so much, young man!" She thanked him happily over and over again. He bowed in a respectful manner, answering that it was all part of his job, "Young man, I'm afraid I don't have your name, would you give me the courtesy?"

"Of course, madam, I am Jin Kusanagi," He replied.

She nodded, "Thank you again, Jin-san, here is your payment and a little extra for being such a delightful young man," She handed him a stacked of bills and pinched his cheek. He smiled nonetheless.

"That is very generous of you," He said, "I'll be on my way. Enjoy the rest of your day." And with that said he turned to take his leave. He exhaled quietly, thanking the stars that it was over. Now he could finally stop being so poli-

"Oh, what guild was that you belonged to again, Jin-san?"

He turned to her and replied, "Hurricane Tiger."

* * *

**And that's all for Chapter 4!**

**And now for the news!** I will be updating Every Saturday from now on for as long as I can. I may update earlier when it comes to Holidays but we'll see. Hope everyone had an awesome Friday the 13th. Until next time.


	6. Sparring Spirit!

**Aaaand, we're back!  
**

**So this is the last chapter of Character intros and then we'll be getting in to the real plot of the story! I don't have a lot to say other than that I am very thankful that you guys sent in your OCs and a big thank you to everyone who sent in OCs for Hurricane Tiger. Remember, if there is a problem with how I portray them, tell me.**

**Blood Fangs! You guys are next!**

**Characters Introduced...**

Mikayla - kuma the wolf alchemist

Sterling - Akiza Izinski

* * *

"Mmm… *Yaaaawwwn*…" Coyote rolled over in his mess of covers and sheets and hugged his pillow. He ignored the bright light pouring in through his window blinds, opting to keep his eyes closed and sleep a little longer before having to go to the hell of a guild called Hurricane Tiger. He snored lightly and scratched his rear. For a large portion of his traveling he had slept almost everywhere, mainly outside under trees and in hammocks that he had "found". Now he had a soft bed, soft pillows and comfy atmosphere and he couldn't be more content. He never wanted to get up from the heavenly bed...

He soon found that his peace was only temporary.

"Coyote-kun!~ Coyote-kun!~" His eyes snapped open, bloodshot and glassy because of still being tired. His content smile turned down in a frown and morphed in to a sneer. Even when he was half asleep with his enhanced hearing he could make out more than one female voice shout his name from the floor below. There were several questions running through his mind, laying there, listening to the stampede of footsteps as they grew louder, ascending his staircase.

The most prominent was: How did they get passed his front door? When he explicitly remembered locking both locks and the deadbolt…

"Coyote-kun!~~~ Wake up, Coyote-kun!~~~" the females sang from the other side of his door, rapidly pounding against it. He turned on to his back and slowly sat up, facing forward and merely looked at his green walls. He turned his head to the door and stared at it blankly. Almost like a zombie he stood up and walked up to the door, swaying a bit. The moment he wrapped his hand around the knob and turned it the pounding stopped.

He opened the door was greeted by the sight of the grinning, annoyingly cheery faces of Yerma, Starphire, Nana and Alistar, who was thankfully without Marsh. Both Yerma and Nana threw their hands up and released a rain of multi-colored confetti. Pieces landed on Coyote's shoulders and head, becoming entangled in his bed head.

"Happy house-warming, Coyote-kun!" they exclaimed.

"Why didn't you tell us you had found a place to live?" Alistar asked, "It looks great!"

Ignoring the obvious and horrible joke, Starphire added, "I could've thrown one wild party! What do you say, ne, Dog boy? It's not too late! C'mon!" She urged, grabbing him by his shoulders. Coyote was silent, staring at the group with half-lidded eyes. He looked down at Starphire's hands, the mess of confetti and his expression didn't change in the slightest. He looked back at the group and inhaled…

"Question one: How did you get in?" He asked.

"Alistar and Yerma made a door," Starphire answered, taking her hands away from his shoulders, "Nifty trick, if I say so myself!"

Coyote slowly nodded, "Okay… Question two: Why the hell are you here?"

"To congratulate you on finding a place!" Alistar said, reaching over and patting his shoulder. Coyote closed his eyes and exhaled before posing another question.

"Last question: How far do you think this room is from the street?" He asked and the group of four looked between one another, or at least the girls did, Alistar merely scratched the back of his head. Starphire finally shrugged and answered, saying it was a two story building so it would be seven or nine feet from Coyote's room and the Wind Dragon Slayer nodded, taking a couple steps back in to his room.

"Come in here," He motioned them to enter as he took steps back to the window. They looked at one another and obliged his request.

* * *

"Wahh!" Alistar was flung out of the open window followed by Starphire, Yerma and Nana. They piled on top of one another in heap on the ground in front of Coyote's apartment. A pissed looking Coyote stuck his head out of the window.

"Stay out of here, you jackasses! I swear I will smack your faces off of your god damn faces if you ever barge in to my apartment like that again!" He slammed the window shut with a resounding _crack_, and seconds later he opened it up again, "And you had better fix that freaking hole in my wall! If it's not gone by the time I leave my apartment I will bring a freaking hurricane down on your heads, you assholes! Got that?!" And with that he promptly slammed his window shut yet again, cracking the glass slightly.

The group of four just sat there on the cobblestone road, perplexed, shocked and a little stunned from the fall.

"Al!" Marsh came flying out of the house in tears. He landed on Alistar's chest and clutched to him for dear life. Alistar petted the little exceed's head as he bawled in to his chest. Marsh looked up at with large, watering eyes, "Tobi-baka is so mean! He wouldn't share his fish with me! And why would Coyote-baka throw you out the window?"

"Ah he's just cranky in the morning, Marsh," Alistar said, petting his friend's head.

Starphire dusted herself off, "You think he meant it?" She asked the blind Dragon Slayer who replied with a silent shrug of his shoulders. Yerma sniffled. When asked what was wrong, she brought her hands out of her pockets and showed shards, specks and smashed pieces of candy.

"My candy!~~~" She bawled, crying waterfalls of tears, "Ne! He broke my candy!" Yerma slumped in to Starphire who chuckled sheepishly; she patted the Wood-Make mage's back.

The sound of snoring reached her ears and she looked down to see Nana asleep on the ground. And she had been so awake earlier…

"Oh wonderful... Hey, Al," she got the blind mage's attention, "Mind carrying Nana?"

"Not at all," Alistar said with a smile. He felt around and with Starphire and Marsh's directions, he managed to find Nana and scoop her up in his arms bridal style.

"Let's head back then!" Starphire said, supporting a still saddened Yerma.

* * *

"Teme-Ningen, are you going to get those four dolts for breaking in to your place?" Tobi asked, flying at a safe distance from the Dragon Slayer.

"There'd be no point, Master March would probably stop me and I'd have to run laps again…" He sighed, "Then again… I'd certainly feel better… You know what, maybe I will," Coyote answered with a wave of his hands, "And stop speaking to me, Baka-neko, you ate my damn fish I was saving!"

"You were napping and I was hungry, and when you snooze, you lose," Tobi replied hotly, "accidentally" drifting closer than he should have and causing Coyote's allergies to act up.

"**Achoo! Achoo! **D-Damn, Ca – **Achoo! **– Cat!"

Coyote, awake and refreshed after getting a couple hours of additional sleep and then going through his morning routine, was on his way to Hurricane Tiger to start his day. He received quite a few glares from men and women alike that were with their children on his way out of his apartment. He didn't question it, but he had a good idea as of why.

He was still feeling rather on edge after his "House-warming", having those four break in to his apartment so easily, but he was glad to see that they had at least fixed the hole in his wall. There was a reason he hadn't told anyone in the guild that he had actually found a place to stay after his touring fiasco with Yerma and what had happened was it in a nutshell.

He took his usual route to the guild hall, taking the dirt road in to the less urban area where more trees and green grass were abundant and soon enough he could see it in the distance. What he hadn't expected was the fight going on outside or a jagged slab of earth to rise up from the ground. He smirked a bit and craned his neck, popping it and he worked his shoulders. This was going to be fun…

He noticed several mages watching from the side-lines. Even better, an audience to kick ass in front of!

As he got closer, he could clearly make out that one was Rosa as her rather eccentric style was hard to miss. Over the week they hadn't talked much, if at all, not for lack of trying as Talia forced him in to it the vast majority of the time. At first it was to make up for scaring her but then it was to help her less shy around him in case they were ever on a job together, but she almost always fainted when he attempted to talk with her or talked in her direction. Her fear of him did eventually lessen to the point she only shied away now instead of passing out. She was still meek, quiet and she stuttered, but it was progress he supposed… Not that he cared.

But the person she was sparring against was only slightly familiar. She wore a purple tank top and black shorts; he could see at least three knives strapped to the belt around her waist. Her dark brown hair was pulled back in to ponytail that reached the middle of her back. He remembered her being in a conversation with Yerma, or more or less Yerma was talking while she gave her two cents in a few words now and again, but he couldn't recall her name…

The brunette lunged at Rosa with swift punches. She spun on her heel and raised her other leg high in a roundhouse kick. Rosa ducked underneath her opponent's leg and gracefully back-flipped away, putting distance between them. The girl stomped on the ground and twin magic circles appeared. Two chunks of rounded earth were tossed in to the air and she quickly kicked them towards Rosa.

Rosa dodged one and smashed the other with her arm that was now covered by a golden, transparent glow. The Earth Mage wasted no time and placed her hand against the rock wall she created earlier and from it she pulled out a staff as tall as her. She rushed in and jabbed rapidly, putting Rosa on the defensive.

Rosa stopped and dodged the staff. She lunged at her opponent with her glowing fist but stopped as a knife was thrown at her feet. She ran around it and the Earth Mage made capitalized. In a swift, fluid motion she used her staff to trip Rosa and she grabbed the girl by her jacket. She flipped Rosa through the air and she landed on her rear with a thud.

"Owww!" She whined, rubbing her now sore bum, "It's only a sparring match, Mikayla! Can't you be a little gentler?" She pouted a bit. Mikayla prodded her forehead with the end of her rock staff.

"A Dark guild won't pull any punches," She stated, shouldering her weapon. Rosa slowly nodded, "You should rest, we've been at this for a while."

Rosa nodded yet again, "All right, thank you for sparring with me, Mikayla."

"Rosa-chan!~~," She was suddenly tackled hugged by Faye, her gray and white furred exceed. She looked up at her with large eyes, "Now that you're not training, can we get a snack please? Pretty please?" Rosa giggled and hugged her exceed. She stood up and nodded her head.

"Yeah! How about sweet buns?"

Faye gasped and nodded rapidly, "Yeah yeah! Sweet buns! Sweet buns!" The exceed chanted and soon enough so was Rosa. The two of them walked back to the guild in high spirits and Yerma joined them, wanting to indulge in the sweets as well.

Mikayla smiled a bit. The girl and her Exceed were definitely enthusiastic.

"Oi!" Coyote called to her. And her smile was gone. She turned to face him, "So what's this all about?" He asked, motioning the area where she and Rosa had just been fighting.

Kai answered, "Guild members can spar out here to hone their skills and we get to watch!" He stood up, grinning widely and walked over to them, he threw an arm around the Earth Mage's shoulders, "Ne, Coyote, Mikayla-chan looks pretty cute when she's kicking butt, don't you think?" Mikayla was the one to respond. Physically. She delivered a blow with the point of her elbow to Kai's abdomen. He held the spot and doubled over, yet looked up with a smile still plastered on his face.

"Ah Mikayla-chan, why so serious? Lighten up!" He stood up as if he hadn't just been hit, "How about it? Come with me and I'll light up your world!" Mikalya watched him with a deadpan expression. She finally did tap her staff against the ground and said.

"How well do you think flirting with a girl who is holding a blunt object will work out for you… When they didn't hesitate on hitting you before?" She quirked an eyebrow, waiting for his undoubtedly asinine answer. Kai's bright smile didn't falter for a second, though he did take a step back.

"A rain check then!" he said enthusiastically. He caught sight of wavy blond hair out of the corner of his eye and grinned widely, "Lariette-Chaaan!~ Wait for me!" And with that he dashed after her, "I never got your answer about dinner!"

Coyote stood there silently, rather perplexed as he scratched the back of his head. He knew Kai was a flirt and did so with almost every female member of the guild and that Lariette was the one he sought after the most. The guy sure had a lot of confidence… and a lot of endurance if even half of his encounters with the opposite sex ended like they did with Mikayla, and speaking of the Earth Mage…

"Mikayla, you up for a spar then?" Coyote asked, popping his knuckles.

"You seem eager? Do you want to lose to a girl that badly?" She asked in return, throwing away her rock staff and taking her knife out of the ground.

Coyote smirked, "Confident are ya? We'll see how long that last!" He took a fighting stance.

Mikayla did the same and Coyote slid his leading foot forward, getting ready to make his move when a familiar voice reached his ears. A voice he definitely didn't want to hear after such a stressful morning…

"Fighting a girl, eh Egret?" Calin walked in to the scene with a smirk on his face. He swept a hand through his hair. His lips turned up in to smirk, "What next? Fighting children to prove just how _tough _you are?" Coyote sneered at him. Over the week he had been with Hurricane Tiger, out of every single mage that was there, Calin was the one he disliked the most, even over that bastard Jin who kept smiling and then left out of the blue after some cryptic insult… Man that day was a pain in the ass!

If anything, he disliked Calin more than the first time they met and at that point in time, he wasn't sure that was possible.

Coyote coughed and smirked, "*Cough* Sorry… *Cough* There's just so much smug in the air that I'm choking on it," He coughed again. The Wind Dragon Slayer ignored Mikayla and instead stepped up to Calin, the two glaring at one another. The wind picked up slightly and Calin's hand twitched beside his saber's hilt.

"Hey, what's all this?" Both of them glanced towards another male, "Still starting fights, Calin?"

He wore all black. He wore a black muscle shirt underneath a black leather jacket and a black belt holding his black combat pants. He wore a calm smile on his face and Coyote was rather surprised to see that he bared a strong resemblance to Starphire. Even his shoulder length black hair had crimson highlights like her hair did.

Calin turned towards the newcomer, "Sterling…" He gripped his saber handle, "Now that you've returned we can finally have our rematch!"

Sterling chuckled sheepishly and scratched the back of his head, replying, "But I just got back, do you mind if I rest for a while before we throw-down, I'd like to see my sister too…" He said. He looked around, "Speaking of which…" He grinned widely and opened up his arms. Two black blurs sped past Coyote and Calin and Sterling was tackle hugged by Starphire who wrapped her arms around his waist and hugged him tightly, lifting him off of the ground in the process. Kai jumped up and down, barking happily.

"Sterling-Nii! You're back!" She exclaimed, laughing.

"Missed you too, sis!" Sterling said, laughing in a more sheepish manner, wiggling about in her strong grasp, "Uhm… Can you put me down? It's getting… Hn, a bit difficult to breath now…" He was set down on his feet immediately and Starphire was practically hopping up and down in happiness, a wide grin was spread across her face.

"Ah man! You missed so much this week! We got this new guild member! And he caused a bunch of trouble, but I kept him in line! Talia kicked his ass, it was the funniest thing! An -" Her explanation was cut short by Sterling placing a hand over her mouth.

"All right all right, calm down, you didn't get in to Yerma's stash of candy again did you?" He asked jokingly, earning a pout from his twin. He slowly took his hand away, "So, you say we got a new guild member while I was away?" He motioned to Coyote, "I take it that this is him?"

Coyote nodded in turn, "Yeah, my name is Coyote Egret, who are you?"

"Sterling Hellstrom, it's nice to meet you," He held his hand out for Coyote to shake it but the Wind Dragon Slayer didn't move. Calin slapped his hand out of the way and stepped in to his line of vision.

"The formalities are out of the way. Fight me, I'll prove myself to be ready for the S-Class exams this year!" Sterling opened his mouth to respond but was too slow as Calin was turned around to face an annoyed looking Coyote who jammed a thumb in to his own chest.

"Oi! Pretty boy, your fight is with me, remember?"

"Now that someone worth my time is here, you're no longer needed," Calin responded bluntly, "Now leave, real mages are going to fight." Coyote snarled, biting out an angry reply as he grabbed Calin by the front of his shirt. The Wind Dragon Slayer reared back his fist to deliver a punch just as Calin unsheathed a small portion of his saber blade.

"I really was hoping to relax... Oh well..." Sterling sighed to himself. He held his arms out and was surrounded by light, "Requip!" This stopped the two mages in front of him from starting a brawl. As the light faded he was dressed in a dark green knee-length kimono with lighter green trim that was kept closed around the middle by a silver haramaki. Black trousers and no footwear. his chest was wrapped in bandages and a silver headband was wrapped around his head with long twin tails. In his hand was a gunbai, a war fan as large as him.

"Typhoon Break Armor..." He stated, "No need to fight guys. Tell you, what I'll spar with you both, how's that sound?"

Calin and Coyote glanced at one another. They stepped back from one another.

Calin did draw his sword, but against Sterling now, "I accept. Don't get in my way, Egret..." He said in a threatening tone, casting the Wind Dragon Slayer a sidelong glance.

Coyote crouched down and stretched out his legs. He started a series of stretches actually, "Piss off, pretty boy..." Coyote replied, "I'm gonna be the one to knock this guy out and then it's your turn."

"We'll just see about that," Calin stated hotly.

Sterling watched as they took their respective fighting stances, though they stilled argued silently amongst themselves. He cleared his throat in order to get their attention and for the most part it worked. He spread his feet apart and gripped the shaft of his weapon with both hands, one near the end and twisted his upper body while keeping his feet firmly in place. He slanted his weapon behind him and he stopped.

"Whenever you're ready..." He told them.

* * *

"Wow, those three are really going at it," Nicole observed from her seat outside of the guild. Master March was by her side watching as one Hurricane Tiger's S-Class Mages did battle with one of their most promising mages and their newest and one of the most impulsive and rude he had ever met. All of that considered, he was glad he had activated the guild's protection spells when the sparring began.

Sterling blocked one of Coyote's wind-enhanced kicks with his war fan, absorbing the wind in to it within seconds, and pushed him back. Calin went on the offensive the very second the Dragon Slayer was out of his way and the two clashed repeatedly. Sterling took a single step back and Calin followed him, flames engulfing the blade of his saber. Master March noticed the male Hellstrom smirk and then with a single swipe of his war fan he created a powerful gust that extinguished Calin's flames and picked him up off of his feet.

"Calin and Coyote are working together pretty well, that's a surprise…" Nicole stated with a small smile. She soon found she spoke far too soon as Calin slashed at Coyote for getting in his way and the Dragon Slayer retaliated with a kick. The two mages found themselves in a stalemate with Calin's fire-enhanced saber against Coyote's wind-enhanced foot, the grinding steel of his blade and the steel strips on Coyote's sandals sent sparks in every direction.

Sterling quickly separated the two with another powerful gust and got them focused on him once again.

Master March nodded, "Their teamwork is about the equivalent of mongoose and snake but this match is quite something," He ran a hand through his beard, "Even if this is only a friendly sparring match it seems to have gotten almost everyone in to the fighting spirit…" He looked around and eyed several other of Hurricane Tiger's mages who were talking and others were moving to a different area to have a sparring match of their own.

He nodded, "It lifts my own spirits to see them honing their abilities… Speaking of which that is something that you should be thinking of doing yourself, Nicole," He looked down at his granddaughter who pouted up at him.

"What are you talking about, Gramps?" She asked, "I'm as fast as ever, there is no ne- Yow!" She yelped in pain, grabbing the spot on her head that had been whacked by her Grandfather's cane, "What the hell gramps? What was that for?" She whined, rubbing the sore spot on her head.

"Now if memory serves me correctly, the Nicole Highlander I trained could've dodged that blow rather easily!" He chided her, delivering a few lighters taps that the backs of her hands blocked, "I'm sure someone is willing to spar with you, now hop to it young lady!"

Nicole grumbled underneath her breath words that he couldn't catch but after a pointed glance, she got the picture and moved on to find an opponent. He smiled.

"So much like her mother…" He shook his head and looked up to the sky, "If she's anything like you, she'll have a very bright future."

"Ne, what's that teme-ningen up to now?" Master March's pleasant memories were interrupted by a gruff voice. He looked down to see Tobi standing in the guild hall's entrance with fish in his mouth. He was watching the three way battle between Calin, Sterling and Coyote, "I knew he was stupid but I didn't believe he was stupid enough to fight Calin and a second mage."

"That second mage is one of our S-Class mages, Sterling Hellstrom," Master March stated.

"…That's even worse, Calin and an S-Class Mage," the orange exceed shook his head, finishing the last of his fish, "Stupid human…" Master March looked down at Tobi for a few seconds before he focused on the sparring matches around him, posing the question.

"Is there something wrong with us humans?" He asked.

Tobi looked at the ground. He didn't respond and instead brought out his wings and with a single flap hovered over to a group of women mages.

* * *

"Go sit with Faye, all right Marsh?" Alistar gently tossed the little brown furred exceed in to the air and he summoned his wings. Marsh nodded.

"Good luck, Al! Can we go get some candy after this?" Marsh asked enthusiastically.

He nodded, "Sure pal!"

"Yaaaaay! Candy!~ Candy!~" The little exceed exclaimed happily as he flew about in circles overhead. Doing as Alistar asked him, he found Faye was sitting on the ground next to The Hellstrom twins' dog, Kai, watching Rosa and Mikayla continue their sparring match.

Alistar turned to see a grinning Yerma, "Ready?"

She nodded, "Don't lose too early, okay?"

* * *

While watching the three way battle between her brother, Calin and Coyote, Starphire was glad to see that her brother was on the winning side, not that she was surprised. She felt a tug on her shorts and looked down to see Talia who had her bow in hand.

"Want to spar?" She asked, not beating around the bush. Starphire grinned widely.

* * *

Lariette was none too happy with her unfortunate streak of nasty luck. She had chosen today of all days to sit out on the guild's patio in the back with her novel and some tea. She wanted to enjoy some light reading and the cool breeze blowing through seeing as the fall months were fast approaching. She got none of that. Instead she was subject to the sound of fighting, of clashing steel and the cries of spells from the other side of the guild hall. She glanced up from her novel at Jin, who seemed to have the same idea she did, but instead of a book, he was playing a game of chess with himself with a serene smile on his face, seemingly unfazed by all of the ruckus.

"Hello, my lovely."

She glanced up as a shadow was partially cast over her and standing there was Kai with his usual large grin. She casually flipped a page of her book and returned to reading, "Good afternoon," She gave him a simple greeting.

"I was wondering if you'd like to spar." He asked, "The whole guild has gotten in to the fighting mood it seems! So why shouldn't we?"

Lariette flipped another page in her book, "You're an S-Class mage, correct?" He answered with a simple yes, "So wouldn't your training time be better served fighting someone of your level? Say Jin for instance?" Kai chuckled. He scratched the back of his head as he replied

"Well… Jin isn't one to spar… Hey Jin! Want to spar, pal?"

The young man looked up from his game and smiled, "Of course, that would be the highlight of my day!" Though his words were jovial, his tone sent a rather different message.

"...Is that a yes or a no?" Kai asked. Jin returned to his game without a word and Kai looked down at Lariette, shrugging his shoulders, "You see?"

Lariette shut her book and stood up. She looked up at him, "Fine. I suppose getting some peace and quiet is out of the question today anyway."

Kai grinned widely, "That's the spirit!" He stopped as she gave him a pointed look.

"Don't address me as your 'lovely' again, understand?" She asked him. She hadn't an utter distaste for 'pet names' and refused to be addressed in such a way. She had warned him many times already and yet he either didn't really understand her or he was merely finding loopholes in her warnings somehow…

He nodded, "Understood… Lariette-chan."

'_Oh wonderful…' _She thought.

* * *

**Aaaannd... Done! We finally got to some real action. Not a lot but some!  
**

**I went over this, editing and fine tuning scenes for the past 3 days so it should be, and i am hoping, perfect *By my standards*! I think this chapter went well and I hope you all like it! Don't forget to drop a review! :)  
**


	7. End of a spirited session

**Aaaaand we're back! Just as promised!**

**So another Saturday is here and we have another chapter out. There was more great feedback from last chapter which made me super happy! Let's keep it up.**

**I don't have much to say. I do hope you guys enjoy :) Happy reading!  
**

* * *

Lariette and Kai took their places across from one another in the open field behind Hurricane Tiger's guild hall. She watched as Kai took his double-edged sword from his back and stabbed it in to the ground. She knew that he was of S-Class level but he more often than not took jobs on his own and it was rare she saw him in sparring matches so she had little information of his magic other than the murmurs and talking she overheard from other mages in the Guild.

Kai smiled and waved to her, "Are you ready?" He asked, "Know that just because you're pretty, it doesn't mean I'll go easy on you," He winked at her.

Lariette conveyed no emotion in her expression, "Oh, such a gentlemen…" She replied in a sarcastic tone, rolling her eyes. She locked eyes with him, "If you 'take it easy on me' then you may find yourself on the losing end very quickly," She stated bluntly as she lifted her hands.

Kai smiled. He raised his hands in a boxing style position, "We'll see…" Light surrounded his arms to his elbows. The stared one another down, unmoving from their ready positions. A breeze swept by and it was Kai who jumped in to action first, dashing towards her.

"Luminous…" She drew back her right hand as a bow of golden light materialized in her left hand with an arrow ready, her right hand holding it. In a slight motion with the fingers of her right hand one arrow became three and she let them fly. Kai slid to a stop and punched at the air with a quick combination, shattering all three arrows with his light enhanced fists. Amongst the fragments and wisps of light his eyes widened, seeing Lariette had closed the distance between them quickly.

She had her arm drawn back with an arrow aimed directly at him.

He bent back. Lariette let the arrow fly then and it whizzed past his right shoulder, taking a small strip of his shirt with it. She jumped back and fired arrows in groups of two and three as Kai went in to a series of backflips, narrowly avoiding the onslaught. He finally stopped and side-stepped the arrows that came at him, "You're quick on your feet," He commented.

Lariette did not respond but did let her lips turn up in to a smirk for a brief second. It disappeared the next. She chose to change her strategy, dissolving her bow and arrow and raising her hands in the same position she had them when their sparring match first began.

Kai opened his hands and the light began to recede, converging on the center of his palms. A golden magic seal appeared in front of Lariette

"Balle…" She fired a barrage of light bullets from her fingertips and Kai launched a pair of light orb with the call of 'Light Grenade.' Her eyes narrowed slightly as Kai's light orbs maneuvered around her barrage. She slid one foot forward and gracefully twirled. Light gathered in her hands…

**Boom!**

Both combatants were surrounded by a cloud of smoke. Kai walked from his, waving his arm to disperse it. A golden shield of light was attached to his right arm. He watched as Lariette spun gracefully through the smoke dispersing it from around her. In her hands was a pair of swords made of her light magic energy.

He smiled widely, "This'll be a lot more fun than I thought!"

"I'll take that as a compliment," Lariette replied dryly.

"That's what it is," Kai said with a smile. He pulled his sword from the ground and raised it along with his shield, "Shall we dance, m'lady?"Lariette murmured the words of her spell and a rapier of light materialized in her hand. She took her stance.

"All right, I'll lead…" Kai said.

* * *

**Yerma and Alistar…**

"Alley-oop!" Yerma, with a running start, leaped in to the air and flipped putting her hands on the top of the wooden wall erected by Alistar and pushed herself higher in to the air. She flipped twice and skillfully landed on her feet. Alistar began to applaud her acrobatic feat even as she ran full speed towards him. Though he physically couldn't see it, the sound of her moving and what he 'saw' once she touched his wall, he felt it was amazing enough to deserve the applause.

"Wood-Make: Knuckle!" she cried out her spell and both of her hands were covered by a green light. It faded to reveal wooden boxing gloves slightly larger than her hands. She threw rapid punches. Alistar side-stepped the flurry of punches, he resorted to blocking with his forearms and hands when it came to the ones that were too fast for him to dodge.

Yerma delivered a particularly vicious punch that Alistar blocked with his arms crossed over his chest. He slid back from the force.

"Wood-Make: Frenzy Lance!" Yerma dissolved her gloves and slammed her hands on the ground. Several sharp wooden roots burst up from the earth around her and shot towards Alistar. The blind young man smiled and inhaled deeply, puffing out his chest and cheeks as the wooden lances drew closer and closer. He called out his spell…

"Forest Dragon Roar!" he released a powerful beam of green light that was surrounded by swirling leaves. It tore through Yerma's lances and sped towards her. She quickly slammed her hands on to the ground, erecting three thick wooden walls in the beams path, giving her enough time to dive out of the way just before it tore through her defenses only seconds later. It took a thick chunk out of a tree that was behind Yerma as well.

"Ah that was a close one!" Yerma sighed, "Alistar! Watch it with that attack! It's dangerous!"

"Well… I wish I could watch it…" He stuffed his hands in to his pocket and looked down at the ground. His shoulders slumped and he kicked at the ground. Yerma gasped and quickly stood up and walked over to him.

"Al… I'm so sor -" She was interrupted by the sound of garbled snicker. She noticed the Dragon Slayer's shoulders shaking. He turned away a bit and tried to play it off as coughing in to his hand but couldn't contain himself and soon burst out laughing.

"Ahahahaha! Ah man! It's okay, Yerma-chan! I was kidding!" He waved off her worries and continued to laugh, but soon stopped. He felt a wave of danger pass over him and could feel her magic flare up, "Uhm… Yerma?"

"Wood-Make: Hammer!" Yerma created a large hammer and raised it high over her head.

"Uh oh…"

* * *

**Starphire and Talia…**

"Holy Arrow: Scatter!" Talia called out the name of her spell just as she let an arrow fly. With a quick snap of her fingers a single arrow became a dozen and bombarded Starphire and her shield. Talia fired several more in groups of twos and threes to drive Starphire back little by little. Small cracks appeared in the wood and steel buckler shield.

Starphire slashed and slashed with her double edged sword, countering arrows as to avoid having her weapon destroyed. She dived out of the way just as they volley became too much for her to handle. She was engulfed in light.

"Requip! Minotaur Armor!" The light of her magic shattered she was clad in an armor of her own. Her chest piece was brazen bronze with red trim as was her battle skirt. Red cloth extended to her knees from underneath the armored skirt with a slit going up the right leg. She legs from her knees down and arms from her elbows to her wrists were covered by arm and leg warmers made of black fur. Her head was protected by a helmet shaped like a bulls with a visor piece covering her eyes, four vertical slits so she could make use of her sight. In her hands she wielded a large battle hammer as tall as her with a ring attached to the bass and red feathers hanging from thin leather strips near the head.

"That doesn't scare me, baka!" Talia said, pulling back on the string of her bow. Three magic arrows formed between her fingers.

"It should! Rising Stone!" A magic seal appeared in front of her hammer's head. She swung it over head with shocking ease and slammed it down just as Talia released her volley. Multiple walls of jagged earth burst up to act as her shield.

"Dammit!" Talia hissed.

"Crushing Labyrinth!" Starphire exclaimed as she hopped in to the higher than her wall of earth. Talia saw her opportunity and pulled back on the string of bow to form another arrow. She focused more of her energy in to it and concentrated on the tip of the arrow. It morphed, becoming longer and the tip became two-pronged.

"Holy Arrow: Null Light!" Talia let her arrow fly just as Starphire brought down her hammer. The arrow tore through the air at speeds that left a trail of smoke in its wake. Just as the hammer was to make contact with the rock walls, the two-pronged arrow came between them. Much to Talia's surprise her arrow was shattered, but a powerful burst destroyed the earth instead of the hammer, throwing Starphire in to the air in the process.

Talia's looked up to see a large amount of rubble falling down towards her. She attached her bow to her back with her magic and leaned forward, she bent her knees low and inhaled deeply. She threw herself back in to a series of back-flips. She slid to a halt, a safe distance from the falling rubble and brought out her bow again, charging it with her magic energy.

A single arrow she let loose and with a snap of her fingers it burst in to a dozen, hitting the larger rocks in their centers and destroying them. A prideful smile made it's way across her face. It disappeared once she saw movement in a nearby pile of rocks, what she thought to be the rest that had not come her way.

A war hammer burst forth gripped tightly in her hand and Starphire rose with it, shaking off dust and pebbles.

"Nice shot!" Starphire complimented her.

"You haven't seen anything yet," Talia replied, pulling back on her bow string to create two more arrows.

Starphire spun her war hammer over her head at a rapid pace, "Bring it!"

* * *

Master March watched from his perch atop the guild hall. He sat there cross-legged with his cane across his lap. From where he sat he could see the sparring matches between his guild members very easily. His eyes opened ever so slightly and his green eyes became visible. As he watched from on high his guild members, those he thought of as his own children, fight against one another, train themselves to be better or in some cases settle old grudges, he couldn't help but smile.

Alistar and Yerma, they were quite the pair. He watched as Alistar blocked a swing from Yerma and one of her wooden hammers with his arms and then retaliate with a swift kick.

His eyes moved to Mikayla, she and Rosa continuing their sparring match. His shy cub Rosa held her own. He nodded in approval seeing her go on the offensive, though only for a few brief seconds before Mikayla used her Earth Magic to put her off balance. Mikayla created a staff made of rock and attacked.

He chuckled to himself.

He peered over his shoulder to see Kai and Lariette clashing blades. Lariette moved a graceful fluidity as she slashed with a saber of light one hand and thrust at his S-Class light mage with a rapier in her other. Kai, as per usual, wore a wide grin on his face and met each of her attacks. He expected nothing less from the young man. He nodded yet again.

He spied Starphire and Talia who still fought fiercely. Talia and her lighter, faster frame out maneuvering Starphire and her Minotaur Armor's war hammer.

He smiled to himself, chuckling quietly as he spotted Jin. With one hand behind his back he took steps in all directions within a circle made in the ground beneath him. With one hand covered in a dark red flame like aura he block Nicole's flame enhanced kicks, He was surprised to see Nana out there as well, though her movements were sluggish and limp, though they made for unpredictable attacks. Jin never left the circle. The young man was forced to use both hands though.

Coyote and Calin were attacking Sterling furiously but the S-Class Mage stood his ground.

"Hehehe... My cubs, they're growing..." He said to himself, closing his eyes. He nodded again to himself, "They're ready."

* * *

**Sterling vs. Coyote vs. Calin…**

Calin was thrown back and sent skidding across the ground after being deflected by Sterling and his war fan. He bounced off of the ground and managed to land in a crouched position and catch his saber as it slid towards him. His hair was disheveled and far from its normal neat appearance and his clothes were the same, ruffled and dirtied from being thrown about. He could hear the faint sounds of yelling growing steadily louder and out of the corner of his eye he could see Coyote hit the ground next to him with enough force to leave a shallow crater shaped like him in the earth.

"… Okay… Ow…" He groaned as he sat up, rubbing his head. While both he and Calin were fairly beaten and bruised, Sterling on the other hand was standing tall, shouldering his war fan. All he had to show for the battle were slight tears in his kimono as well as scorch marks from Calin's fire on his clothing and war fan.

"Do you two feel like stopping? Your magic has to be running low by now." Sterling asked them. Both Coyote and Calin stood up on shaking legs. Calin raised his saber and its blade was engulfed by red hot flames. Coyote slammed his fists together, and wind gathered and swirled around his hands.

"Never!" Calin said hotly.

"Screw you! I can keep fighting!" Coyote growled.

Sterling sighed and shrugged his shoulders; he pointed his war fan towards them. He nodded his head, "Come at me then." Both the Fire Mage and Wind Dragon Slayer charged in head first with fire in their eyes. Both of them called out their respective spells…

"Wind Dragon's Gale Fist!"

"White Hell Fang!" Calin's flames became white hot, glowing with intensity. Coyote drew back his fist in preparation for his attack.

"Trying to upstage me, mongrel? I'll be the one to deal the final blow!" Calin stated, increasing his speed and running ahead of Coyote.

"In your dreams! This fight is mine!" Coyote replied in a growl and fell in step beside the Fire Requip Mage. The male Hellstrom twin stood unfazed and waited as they rapidly drew closer. The moment Calin leaped in to the air to deliver a downward slash, his lips turned up in to smirk. He spun in place as he was enveloped in light.

"Sorry fellas!" The light shattered, "But it's over!" Their attacks were met by a single large green magic seal that was a successful defense. Both mages pushed forward but within seconds their attacks were no 's flames were extinguished and Coyote's wind disappeared.

Continuing his spinning motion, both Coyote and Calin were thrown through the air but managed to land safely on their feet. The light around him shattered and Sterling revealed he had donned a new armor. The majority was dark green with silver trim. A helmet reminiscent of a dragon's head protected his head and folded wings were connected to the back. In his hand was a double-edged broadsword with a decorative dragon hilt.

"Dragoon Armor! Resistant to both wind _and _fire magic!" He said with a wide grin, "It can even absorb them! Inferno Twister!" A golden yellow seal appeared in front of him as he slashed his weapon, leaving a streak of orange flames across it. A spiraling tunnel of orange flames burst forth and engulfed both Calin and Coyote in seconds.

Sterling spun his blade and stabbed it in to the ground, folding his hands on the base of the hilt and the tunnel of flames dispersed.

They were lying on the ground, burned and bruised and thoroughly beaten, but they were conscious and looking up at the sky. Sterling requiped in to his normal clothing as he walked over to them. He looked down at the two mages with a smile on his face. "Top-notch fight," He said, "If you both had actually worked together, you might have won!" He ignored Coyote weakly raising his middle finger towards him.

"Indeed there was a chance," Master March said as he approached them. He looked down at Calin and Coyote as he said, "But you're teamwork at this point is non-existent... I'd compare it to that of a Mongoose and a Snake," He commented, poking both of their foreheads with the base of his cane, "If I had to wager a guess… I'd say you both caused more injury to the other in that spar than Sterling had to both of you."

Coyote turned his head and spit on the ground. He grumbled quietly, "Whatever… Could've won on my own if pretty boy over there hadn't kept getting in my way."

"I could say the same about this filthy mongrel… Absolutely no style to your fighting whatsoever… Though it's to be expected I suppose," Calin said with a smirk.

"Ah!... If I could move I'd break my foot off in your ass, you prick!" Coyote snarled.

"I'd cut you to ribbons!" Calin retorted. Master March sighed while Sterling chuckled sheepishly. They attempted to raise their arms and swing at one another but it was for not.

Master March nodded his head, "All right all right, enough fighting. Sterling, I know you just returned from your job, but would you mind carrying these two to the infirmary?"

Sterling nodded his head and scooped up the two troublemakers, "Of course, I don't mind at all."

"Put… me down… Jerk…" Coyote protested, weakly swinging his arm and hitting Sterling's leg, "I… don't need… your help…Ah!" Calin as well protested against being carried but neither of them was in any shape to put up a real fight. The three of them disappeared in to the guild hall, leaving Master March to watch the rest of the sparring matches as they came to a close.

Rosa was again thrown on to her butt by Mikayla but the Earth Mage looked a tad worn, panting lightly while holding her stomach, indicating that Rosa may have landed a blow. Starphire was grinning widely as she requipped in to her normal clothes, holding a tired and panting Talia off of the ground by the back of her shirt. This made him chuckle.

Alistar was helping Yerma off of the ground and from this and the mess of wood and roots sticking out of the ground around them, he assumed the that young man had won. Even Nicole had done as he had asked and found herself an opponent, three in fact and was standing victorious atop their unconscious bodies. She gave him a thumbs up and flashed him a wide grin. He nodded.

Jin bid Nicole and Nana farewell and walked away, leaving Nicole tired and panting and Nana asleep on the ground.

"Yare yare…" He stroked his beard, "Now that that ruckus is out of the way, the energy is out of their systems, it's time to relax." He nodded to himself and started back towards the guild.

* * *

Tobi was enjoying the company of several beautiful women, basking in their cooing and their stroking of his fur. A wide grin was spread across his face. The sounds of protests reached his ears as well as the familiar cursing that he had grown used to hearing. He used his Aera magic to summon his wings and a bid a temporary farewell to the women as he flew high enough to see what was going on.

Coyote was being carried along with Calin by a mage he didn't know. He smirked, unable to keep himself from taking the chance presented to him.

"Oi, Teme-Ningen!" He flew close enough that Coyote caught sight of him but not so close as to trigger his allergies. He smirked seeing the Wind Dragon Slayer sneer, "Upset some kids mother again? You didn't learn your lesson from last time?"

"Screw off… Baka-neko…" He grumbled. He shakily raised one of his arms and it trembled more so as he tried to curl his fingers, all but one. But it was a fruitless effort. His arm hung limply, "I'll do it later…" He grumbled, closing his eyes.

"Sad sad day for you, Wind Dragon," Tobi snickered, sticking his tongue out. And with that the mage dressed in black disappeared up the stairs in to the second floor. He turned to go to back to the group of women when he was stopped by two high-pitched voices.

"Ne, Tobi-kun!" He glanced over to see Marsh and Faye flying over to him. The smaller exceed tugged on his arm.

"Come play with us!" He urged, tugging on Tobi's arm.

"Yeah! It'll be lots of fun! I know where Rosa keeps her stash of sweets too!" Faye said, giggling at the mere thought of the treats. Tobi narrowed his eyes at them both before turning away with a quiet huff.

"…You're annoying." The two exceeds froze in mid-air, shocked by his blunt statement. With that said Tobi flapped his wings once and lowered himself down to the women, quickly nuzzling up to one with a curvaceous figure.

"So mean…" Marsh and Faye murmured, dark lines going down their foreheads.

* * *

Kai and Lariette stood at arms-length from one another. The blond light mage held swords crossed to the taller male's neck and him with his broadsword to her neck as well, a hairsbreadth from her delicate skin. Lariette narrowed her eyes dangerously and Kai grinned widely. The two stood down and took a step back. She dissolved her swords of light and Kai placed his sword on his back and kept it in place with his magic.

"You're really good!" He said with his usual wide grin. He folded his arms over his chest.

Her lips turned up slightly in a prideful smirk, "The fruits of training," Her smirk disappeared and her expression returned to its usual neutral one, "You're... skilled," She paused for a moment, "To be expected of an S-Class mage."

"We should work together more often. It'd be really great to have another light mage to fight with," Sure there was Rosa but she was so close to Talia that he didn't want to get in between their team. Lariette folded her arms as well, looking him up and down.

She turned away and made her way back to the guild saying, "We'll see…" That was all she left him with. Kai watched her walk back towards the guild hall and his eyes lit up slightly. He could tell this was going to be a lot of fun. He jogged after her.

* * *

**Translations…**

**Twin Epee – (French) **Twin Sword

**Balle – (French) **Bullet

**And Fin! So we got to see a lot of different Magics. A bit of Character interactions. Overall, I liked how this chapter came out and I hope you guys enjoyed it as well.**

**If there are any questions, concerns or the like, bring them up with me and I'll tell you as much as I can without spoiling anything! :) Until next week!**


	8. Off to Amaryllis! An Unorthodox trio

**Welcome back everyone.  
**

**Guardian and I are back again with a new chapter just as promised. Thank you everyone who reviewed and a big thanks to our fans who prefer to remain anonymous :) **

**Now we'll be getting in to legit plot of the story and some of you, if you read Leone Tempest, might just recall this. Now this chapter is not as exciting as the last and it's more like build up, but still, there's useful stuff. **

**Enough from me, Enjoy!**

* * *

**-Opening Theme-** Naihi Shinso by **One Ok Rock**

* * *

The doors of Hurricane Tiger were thrown open courtesy of Talia and her powerful kick. She stomped in to the guild in a huff with a brown satchel slung over her shoulders. While normally she didn't have a particularly nice demeanor, the other guild members could see it in her eyes, the fire of rage. A sure sign that today was particularly bad. Talia grumbled to herself as she made her way to the back of the guild hall, "Magic council bastard… Baka! Calling me short!" If it were possible she'd be spitting fire.

She reached the guild's job request board and looked up at it. It was quite large and rather high off of the ground. A reason why Rosa normally grabbed one for them to do their jobs… and that she herself was willing to do any mission. She blushed and looked at her feet. Her eyebrow began to twitch. She cursed underneath her breath and stormed off behind the bar and returned with a step ladder. She hated the item with a passion, but it was needed more than she wanted to admit.

She started to attach them to the board with small pins and a handful were grabbed from the bag, "Let me help you out there, Talia." It was Starphire.

"…Thanks," She murmured. Now she was being helped by the tallest of the females in Hurricane Tiger. Wonderful…

The two of them posted the new jobs within minutes and Starphire turned to address the rest of the guild hall with her hands cupped around her mouth, "Oi! The new job requests are in! Come and Get'em!" She grabbed Talia and moved aside just seconds before the request board was mobbed by many of the Guild's members.

"Put me down!" Talia struggled free and managed to land on her feet. She rounded on Starphire and pointed up at her, "I could've gotten out of there! Don't help me, Baka!" She shouted. The taller girl looked down at her and smiled widely. Starphire petted her head.

"You're so cute when you're angry, Talia-chan!" Talia sucked in air and her cheeks puffed out. She blushed profusely. Her eyes traveled to the floor and she walked away. What could she possibly say to that that wasn't some angered fueled comment? One that the taller girl wouldn't find _cute…_

She made her way over to one of the couches by the unlit fireplace and plopped down with a huff, bringing her knees up and wrapping her arms around her legs.

"Talia-chan!~" She glanced up to see Rosa and her exceed, Faye quickly approaching. The cheery brunette slid to a halt and immediately held out a job flyer, practically shoving it in to the shorter girl's face, "Please can we take this job? Please!" Talia playfully swatted her hands away and took the flyer to look at it for herself. As she expected of Rosa, the job involved a cute animal and, much to her surprise, it paid rather well. Four million jewels was being offered to find a kitten.

Her brow furrowed. While the pay was _very _good for only finding a lost kitten, having to actually search for _one _little kitten in some large town…? It was toss up for her, a job with its good and bad qualities.

"Please, Talia-chan!" She was shaken from her inner musing by Rosa literally shaking her by her shoulder. She swatted her friend's hands away and looked up at her to see Rosa and Faye looking at her with large, shimmering eyes that silently pleaded with her to take the job. It was two against one and she relented with a sigh.

She nodded, "Okay…" She winced at the sound of Rosa's high-pitched squeals of utter joy. She swung Faye around joyfully. Talia tried to hide the smile that tugged at her lips, but couldn't she chuckled quietly seeing her friend so happy. It was nice not to see her so meek and then faint at the sight of that idiot, Coyote. She jumped because someone took the job flyer from her. She whirled around to see that Starphire was checking it out.

"Huh? You two going to take this?" She asked.

Rosa nodded, outwardly losing a bit of her energy, cutting her squeals short, "Yes, I'm so excited!" She said, still shaking a bit with the excitement she felt. She hated the idea that such an adorable little kitten was out there all alone and away from its owner, so she was overjoyed at the thought of helping.

Starphire smiled widely, "Mind if I tag along?" She asked them. Talia narrowed her eyes.

"Why?"

Her shoulders slumped slightly as she let out a sigh, "Sterling is being boring! He says he wants to "_stay home"_ and "_relax"..._" She emphasized those words with air quotes as well, "We could be out there kicking ass and he wants to chill out at home It's bull!" While the twins weren't all that different in appearance except of course for the face and two obvious exceptions, the personalities were polar opposites and the two girls could definitely see it, "And I was hoping we could hang out! Like a bonding experience – or something – for just us three!" Faye cleared her throat, her lower lip stuck out in a pout, "Oops! Four I mean."

Rosa looked to her teammate and friend, "Talia-chan?"

The short blond looked to the taller Hellstrom twin and sighed once again, "Ah fine! But don't get in my way, you tall Baka!" She pointed a finger accusingly at Starphire, who merely grinned and 'awwed'. She wrapped her arms around Talia and picked her up off of the couch.

"Aw! You're so cute!"

Talia protested, trying to free herself from Starphire's rather strong hug. She would have been spewing profanities and cursing like a sailor were she not being smothered by the female Hellstrom's bosom. Rosa attempted to stop this somehow but didn't know what to say, only stuttering and trying to calm things down but it wasn't a big success, and the situation was helped very little by Faye who laughed aloud.

"Let me go, you big-breasted baka! Ahh!" Talia shouted, "Baka!"

* * *

Master March cleared his throat after he had finished recording a message for a letter. He looked around the guild and spied two suitable for the job he had in mind, "Jin, Kai…" He got the attention of the two. Jin had been busying himself with a chess game, playing against himself while Kai was once again flirting Lariette, whose hand that was out of his sight was visibly shaking. Master March knew he may have saved his S-Class mage from serious injury. The two mages made their over to him and he held out the letter.

"This letter is going to them. You both know the rules, no reading the letter for yourselves and no starting trouble…" He looked at Jin in particular while saying that, who merely smiled and waved his hand as if to wave off his worries. It didn't work…

"That time of the year already?" Kai asked, taking the letter and stowing it in his pants pocket, "Time flies, no?"

Master March nodded, "Indeed it does. We have many new candidates this year, so the exams may be even more exciting than the last."

"There are at least two months before the exams begin," Jin commented, "Why now?"

"It never hurts to the ready one's self in advance," He said, "And in this case, if I don't tell him now then nothing will be ready and he'll pull some cockamamie scheme out of his ass like last time…" Both Kai and Jin shook their heads at the memory. Master March cleared his throat to clear the air and get things back on track, "You do have some leniency on your time, but try not to take too long."

They nodded and Jin added, "If they start something with us… Then can we start trouble?"

"No. Now get going." They nodded yet again and started for the door. Kai stopped abruptly and turned towards the bar.

"Lariette-chan! I will be back, my love! I hope to have an answer from you about dinner!" He got it then and there, a large 'N' and 'O' written in bright golden light in mid-air, courtesy of the light mage. He shook his head with a smile on his face. Jin brought him back to reality and they left the guild hall, the doors shutting behind them.

"She seems very thrilled about the idea," Jin commented with his usual smile.

"...Sarcasm?" Kai asked after a moments pause.

"I'm always serious," Jin replied.

"...Really?" Kai asked, laughing a bit, "No... Really? Are you?" He stopped while Jin continued to walk along at a leisurely pace, "Jin?" He paused, "Jin... Hey wait up!" He jogged after his temporary partner.

* * *

**-Hours Later-**

Rosa, Starphire and Talia packed whatever they thought they would need for the search and then some. They met at the front doors of the guild and double checked everything. They headed out, making their way to the train station.

"You were pretty mad this morning, Talia-chan," Rosa commented. Faye flew in front of her and around the trio, happily munching on a large cookie she had.

"Nya~ Tali-chan is always mad! Mad mad mad~!" She sang, skipping off of Talia's head. The short mage tensed and a tick mark popped up on her forehead. She jumped around wildly, swinging her arms at the grey-furred Exceed trying to catch her, but Faye was far out of her reach and laughing every second.

Starphire lifted Talia off of her feet to stop her from moving around but that in no way detoured her from trying to catch Rosa's Exceed.

"My name is Talia! Stop it with that stupid nickname, Baka-neko!" She shouted. Faye stuck out her tongue and pulled down her eyelid, succeeding in riling up the excitable Talia. Rosa sighed. Faye was always happy-go-lucky and she meant well, but she knew better… At least she hoped the Exceed knew better. This was Talia after all.

Talia finally stopped thrashing and reached back to tug at Starphire's hand, "Let me go, Tall baka!" She whined, swinging her legs slightly. The female Hellstrom chuckled, thinking her so cute. She did as she requested and set Talia on her feet. The short mage folded her arms and grumbled under her breath, walking slightly faster so that she was ahead of the team.

"That was uncalled for, Faye-chan," Rosa chided. Her Exceed giggled nonetheless and continued to fly over their heads

Starphire interlaced her fingers behind her head, "So where is this job taking us exactly?"

"Amaryllis village," Rosa replied after looking over the job flyer.

"Amaryllis village…?" Starphire spoke to herself, mulling over the name. It was so familiar but she couldn't remember why that was.

"What does it look like?" Talia asked, "The cat I mean."

"It's back and tail are dark grey and its belly and legs are white. It's a collar with a bell attached to it too so that could make it easier to find!" Rosa replied.

"It could've gotten rid of the collar somehow," Talia said.

"Maybe," Rosa frowned slightly. Would they actually be able to find the little kitten? It would be quite the search… No! She couldn't think like that! She jumped lightly when Starphire suddenly gasped and clapped her hands.

"Oh man! Now I remember!" She exclaimed. A wide grin spread across her face, "That place has one of the best hot spring inns of all time!" She threw hands in to the air, cheering yes twice over in her excitement, "That is awesome! Four million jewels for finding a cat means spending money to kick back and relax!" She sighed wistfully at the memories. The warm, soothing water, the massage, the comfortable kimonos…

"Oi!" Starphire jumped a bit, "Wake up already!" It was Talia. She scratched the back of her head and chuckled sheepishly seeing the shorter mage's pointed look.

"Sorry about that – ehehe…"

Rosa giggled to herself. She may not know Starphire very well but she seemed like a nice girl. She always thought of her as unapproachable, being the tallest of the girls, looking so intimidating and that wasn't helped by the fact that she always seemed to kick the ass of any guy that got near her to flirt and that she took so many jobs on her own. But now she was beginning to see she wasn't as bad. She was shocked from her inner musings by Faye plopping on to her head.

"Rosa-chan~~!" the Exceed whined, "I'm bored! When are we gonna get there?"

"Soon, Faye-chan!" Rosa answered, taking her friend down and holding her in her arms, "It won't be long. Just a short traaai - tra - tra - nnn... ride…" The moment the word 'train' spilled past her lips she grew quieter until she stopped talking altogether and stopped moving.

Starphire and Talia to walk ahead of her. They finally did notice she had stopped and turned to look at her just as her Exceed did. Rosa's expression was blank; she was just staring off in to space.

"What happened?" Starphire asked, walking towards the girl and snapping her fingers in front of her face. No flinch or blink, she kept her blank stare. Starphire looked over her shoulder in to the sky where Rosa was staring. Nothing was there. She looked to Talia, "What's up?"

"I don't… Hold on…" Talia cringed slightly, her hands balling to fists, "Did she say 'train'?"

Faye's ears and tail drooped. Dark lines went down her forehead, "Y-yeah…" Rosa suddenly turned a shade of blue, her eyes became white circles and her cheeks puffed out considerably so. Her legs buckled underneath her and she went to her knees. She clasped a hand over her mouth.

"Whoa!" Starphire stepped back quickly. Faye struggled to get out of Rosa's arms.

"Oh no!" Talia said, "She _really_ hates trains! Dammit!" They hadn't accounted for the freaking train ride! They couldn't very well walk to Amaryllis since it would take them a little more than a day, not including stops for rest and even back tracking to stay in a hotel on the off chance it rains. She shook her head. Damn it all!

Rosa murmured garbled words. She swayed slightly, "Trains…. Trains…" Her cheeks expanded more so and Faye double-timed her efforts to escape.

* * *

"Bwaa…. Ugghh…"

"Oh man… she is really out of it."

"We had a good run… Well-paying jobs in town or within walking distance…" Talia sighed while stroking Rosa's hair, something that normally calmed the girl, or at least sated her whenever she was like this. She groaned and murmured more words that were garbled, she was incoherent and delirious, laughing at random times. But, at the very least, she was surviving their train ride.

They had reached the train station thanks to Starphire who carried Rosa there. They got their tickets, found their seats and situated themselves quickly. Talia laid Rosa's head in her lap to help her in some way. The girl hadn't thrown up, so that was something positive!

Starphire and Faye sat opposite from Talia and motion sick friend. The sweets loving Exceed was too worried for her friend to eat any of the treats she had brought along.

"Hey, Talia," Starphire spoke up after a while and she got the girl's attention, "Rosa had brought up before that you were really mad this morning, what happened?" Talia's brow furrowed and her eyes narrowed.

"Ahhh! Some stupid jerk at the job distributing place called me short!" She said indignantly. She would've folded her arms had she not needed one of her hands to help her ill friend, "Nobody calls me short! So I clocked the bastard!" She grinned widely saying that.

Starphire's eyes widened, "No way!" She leaned in, "What all happened? I want details! That sounds so wild!"

"Well…"

* * *

"TALIA!" Master March roared in a booming voice that shook the guild. Many ducked underneath their tables and held on to their seats and their drinks for dear life. The elderly guild master appeared on the ground floor in a powerful gust of wind and that sent some to the ground, "Where is that feisty little cub?" He asked them, "I have a few words for her!" He looked around the guild with a pointed look that had many rooted to the floor.

"She went on a job with Rosa and Starphire, gramps," Nicole told him from the bar.

"What's going on?" Alistar asked. The Master March grunted and brought out a stack of papers.

"I just received the medical bills of _Two_ workers from the Magic Council's job distribution center, several knights and a greeter! They were attacked by Hurricane Tiger guild member for quote 'Calling her short which the girl kept ranting as she swung tables and threw chairs' unquote," He pinched the bridge of his nose, "This is from the mouth of one of the victims whose jaw wasn't broken," He sighed, a tick mark popping up on his forehead, "We'll be expected to pay for their recovery!" The guild was silent.

"HA!" Except for one, "Doesn't feel so good having to pay for someone else's bullshit, does it?!" Coyote yelled from the upper floor, beating on the floor to get their attention.

"How about I add half of this bill to your debt, you smartass?" Master March replied.

"Oh that is bull and you know i – Ow! You son of a -"

"Shut up! I am trying to read, you fool!" Many recognized the voice to be Calin's. Following a cry of 'DIE!' a scuffle could be heard from upstairs and the cursing greater than that of a sailor. March shook his head and sighed heavily. Sometimes he wondered why he had started this guild in the first place… And then he remembered. But even that, such a fond memory did not cushion the blow of such an expensive bill!

He looked at it and sighed. Though no one could see it, he was smiling as he said to himself "Yare Yare…What I am going to do with that cub?" In the back of his mind it was serious question. Maybe anger management? But what would happen if she were to hold in her anger and then it suddenly burst forth when some poor soul made some crack or joke involving her height? He shuddered at the very thought… What a pour soul...

He sighed heavily reading the bill over once more. Dammit…

* * *

**-Ending Theme-** Life by **Yui**

* * *

**And that's all for now folks! Now that job... Sound familiar? No spoilers if you remember, but I'm making it cooler this time around.**

**I don't have much to say. I hope you guys enjoyed this chapter and we'll see you again next Saturday! Ja**


	9. A Successful Job takes a turn

**And we're back.  
**

**Thank you La Maitresse' Dame, leapingleameer and Aaron26 for reviewing and CajunKing000 for that Delightful critique. **

**Anyway, we're getting in to the first of two jobs in the first Arc. If your character doesn't show up, if you have one Hurricane Tiger that is, I have something planned for all of them. Trust me.**

**10/12 Update - **Okay, so I will not be doing the Saturday Update anymore. Time constraints and Life won't allow it. BUT, my update schedule will never Exceed 10 days. And you can find the date of the next update on my profile.

**I just wanted to hopefully alleviate any worries. On to the chapter! **

* * *

**-Opening Theme- **Naihi Shinso by One Ok Rock

* * *

"Rrrrrraaaagghh!" The primal roar of a beast tore through the night air as a fire raged, engulfing two homes and spreading through a field of budding crops. People ran screaming from their homes that were being reduced to ash by the flames and quickly hurried for safety. There was no one to keep the flames from spreading further. They hid in their homes as the beast stalked down the street, looking around with glowing red eyes.

It roared once again and with a swipe of its claws it cut gashes through a wooden wall and shattered a window in to hundreds of pieces. Under that window, not that it bothered to look, was a woman holding her frightened child, holding both his mouth and her own to keep from alerting the creature to where they were.

It leaped high in to the air and landed on one of the roofs rather silently. It crouched on its hind legs and looked down at the cattle that were moving about. They sensed danger and their heads moved around to survey their grazing field, other looked towards the smoke and flames.

Its sharp teeth gleamed in the light of full moon hanging in the sky. With a great leap it went higher than before and came crashing down directly on one of the cattle. It made a brief noise of panic before it was silenced and the sounds of tearing, wet splatters sounded over even the panicked cries of the rest of the herd as they stamped away from the scene.

The beast walked away from the stripped carcass with blood stained teeth and matted fur. It left a trail of blood droplets in its wake. It ignored the frightened cries and yells of people who were trying calm the cattle down and those who were trying to corral their children as they attempted to run away. It stopped and turned around, facing the flames as they spread further. It inhaled and let loose a thunderous roar. The winds extinguished the flames and demolished the blackened remains of the two houses and scattered the ashen remains of the crops.

One peeked out to assess the situation and slowly he crawled out in to the opening. He whipped his head around frantically, looking every which way searching for the beast. He slowly stood up, "It's gone! It's gone, it's safe now!" He shouted. The rest of the farming village stepped out, still wary as they looked around.

"All of this damage… I'll take months for us to get back those crops!" another man shouted, running both hands through his hair as he fell to his knees, "Dammit!"

"Mommy, what about our house?" a young girl asked, tugging on her mother's dress. She crouched down to hug her child, whispering some reassuring words.

"We'll have them both rebuilt in no time, Maria," a man assured her, "Until then you can stay with us." The woman thanked him. The villagers conversed between one another. Although they were happy that no one was hurt, they had bigger problems in that their cattle had run off, many crops and the fields themselves were destroyed by the flames and that beast could still be out there.

* * *

**Train Station...**

"How much longer do we have to carry her, my back is killing me as it is…" Starphire complained. Both she and Talia, after a night of sleeping on the train due to delays, were worse for wear with aching backs and sleep tousled hair as they carried Rosa on to the train platform and towards the station's exit. Rosa was still disoriented, blue in the face and muttering garbled words. Having to sleep on the train must've been a nightmare for her… that is if she was even aware of it.

"We just need to get away from the station and not say t -… the 'T' word around her for a while," Talia replied. She yawned loudly and Starphire followed suit. They finally exited the train station in Amaryllis, ignoring the strange looks they received from passersby who saw two girls, one tall and one short, carrying another who was out of it. It really was a rather odd sight.

Talia chose a place for them to sit Rosa down and they did so, sitting her down and leaning her back against a tree. Talia leaned down slightly and lightly patted Rosa's cheeks, to which the color was slowly returning. Her tan skin tone returned, but she was still out cold.

"C'mon Rosa… Wakey wakey…" Talia kept it up but Rosa wasn't coming to. She made a sound of annoyance as her face scrunched up. She used a bit more force this time when trying to wake her friend, causing her to jump and yelp.

Rosa held her cheeks that were marked by red hand prints, "Ooowwie…" She whined, "Talia-chaaaan! That hurt!"

"Well should've woken up the first few times, baka!" She snapped back, poking Rosa's forehead.

Starphire laughed seeing the two exchange words. While they were stopped she decided to straighten herself out and ran her fingers through her hair, trying to remove the knots. She bent backwards, garnering loud pops. Having to sleep in such a tight space was killer on the back! She twisted this way and that, sighing in relief feeling tension leave her bones.

By this time Rosa was back to normal and had Faye in her arms. Talia had her arms folded over her chest, waiting on her to finish stretching.

Talia spoke up, "Rosa and I are gonna start searching for the cat, you can go and find a place to stay if this takes longer than we thought," she told Starphire.

"That'll work, we can cover more ground and I_…_" She grinned widely, "Can find the best place! Oh man I hope I can find that one really awesome inn again!... What was the name? Dammit!" With that said Starphire jogged off with her belonging.

Rosa chuckled quietly, "She's spirited, isn't she?"

Talia turned her head, "Yeah…" She started to walk away, "For a tall baka… Bwaah!" Her foot caught a rock in her path and she fell first in to the ground.

"Talia-chan!" Rosa was by her side in a split-second. Faye on the other hand was laughing loudly, "Are you okay?"

"Did anyone see me?" Talia's words were muffled as she had not lifted her face off of the ground, but Rosa was able to hear her. She looked around before answering.

"No… Just Faye-chan and I…"

Talia got up and brushed herself off. Her face was glowing bright red in embarrassment. She started walking at a brisk pace, "Let's go!" Rosa started ask what was bothering her, but Talia interrupted her. She circled around and started pushing Rosa forward, her feet sliding across the ground, "Nothing! C'mon, Let's go!"

* * *

**Starphire...**

"This should cover it for us for tonight!" Starphire said happily, handing the elderly innkeeper jewels to pay for their stay. She was so thrilled! The name came back to her and she soon discovered the inn was still in business. The woman counted the money and nodded before handing her a key.

"Enjoy your stay, dear," She said.

"Thanks! I'm sure we will!" And with that said, Starphire jogged out to start her search for the kitten. She recalled the little kitten's appearance as she looked around. Out of the corner of her eye she noticed a crowd gathering nearby but thought nothing of it. She peered under fruit stands, thinking that it could be hiding under her nose, or in this case, under carts and stands out of sight. She overheard words that caught her attention…

"… More livestock dead." She glanced towards the crowd.

"It's the second attack this month… More frequent…" She stood up and drew closer to the crowd, close enough so that she could hear the speaker clearly, "It seems to be coming closer to town."

"What are we going to do?"

"They say it sent guild members sent to stop it to the hospital."

"We could hire Fairy Tail! They're bound to destroy it!" A man spoke up, desperation in his voice.

"Along with the rest of our farmland!" A woman added hotly.

"They've been on a downward spiral! It would be waste of time and _our _money to hire them now, especially without that Titania girl or that Salamander fellow!" Starphire's brow furrowed. Some kind of beast was attacking the farms nearby? She did recall hearing stories back in Freesia from traders from this region about it. But she couldn't recall the finer details.

"When do you think it'll attack next, maybe we could pool our money together and hire strong mages?"

"It's been random; the only constant about it all is that the damned thing attacked at night. We'll never know…" And with that having been said the crowd murmured dejectedly. Starphire's shoulders slumped; these people were in trouble but from the sounds of it the odds of her, Talia and Rosa finding this beast was slim. She closed her eyes and tapped her foot. As much as she wanted to offer help, the amount of time they could spend waiting or searching was more than they could afford.

"Shit…" she cursed under her breath, "This is so uncool…" She remembered she had to a job to do and went on to search for the kitten. Maybe she could convince Rosa and Talia to help…

* * *

**Talia and Rosa...**

Talia, with shocking strength, picked up one side of a fruit stand much to the owner's ire but he couldn't protest long since his stands contents went spilling out across the ground. Rosa peered under it and then merely shook her head in the negative.

Talia sighed. She dropped the cart unceremoniously and started for the next one. Rosa offered a quick and quiet apology to the owner and followed Talia as they went to the next one and the next one and the one after, repeating the process again and again. They left many angry stand owners in their wake as they moved on to the next street in search of the little kitten.

"Ahh… What if we don't find him?" Rosa asked out of the blue, worried for the kitten's safety, "The little guy could be cold… and alone… and scared! We have to find him!" She was becoming a bit more frantic and turned to Talia only for the shorter girl to flick her forehead.

"Calm down!" She said, "We'll find it, but this is going to take even longer if you freak out." Rosa nodded and breathed in and out, trying to calm herself down. Just thought of that kitten being hungry and scared somewhere got her a bit riled up.

Rosa looked up towards the sky, "Anything Faye-chan?" She called up. The exceed shook her head in the negative and she sighed again looking down at her feet, "Aw…"

Talia looked away. It wasn't the norm for Rosa to be so down and she didn't like it. She slowly reached up and patted the small of Rosa's back, trying to be comforting, "There… there…" She said, almost forced. A small smile tugged at her lips seeing her friend trying to reassure her and she felt a bit better about their job at hand. Maybe they would find the kitten after all…

"Meow," both of them stopped mid-step, "Meow…" Rosa felt something soft brush past her leg and they looked down to see a small kitten at her feet, looking up at the two of them. Its back was dark grey but its stomach and legs were white. Its eyes were rather peculiar being gold in color, but she didn't care. Rosa slowly brought out the job flyer that had the recent photo. They looked at the photo and then at the kitten, went back to the photo and then the kitten once again, and repeated the process one last time.

"Cute~~~!" Rosa squealed, picking up the kitten and hugging it to her bosom in the blink of an eye.

"Ahh! Rosa-chan, w-what about meee?" Faye whined.

Talia stared up at the little kitten in her friend's arms while she was distracted by the Exceed. The little kitten looked down at her and its golden eyes locked with her cloudy grey ones.

"Meow."

_'Easier than I thought...' _Talia thought. Easy money. But why did those eyes make her feel so uneasy?

* * *

"That was easier than expected…" Talia sighed as she sank in to the warm water of the hot spring to her chin, her hair wrapped up to keep it from getting wet, "I'm glad we get to relax… Nice pick Starphire…" She was actually smiling now. The three girls and Faye retired to the inn after successfully finding the little kitten. Starphire was leaning back on her elbows looking at the sky, her hair done up in to a bun.

Rosa giggled to herself, her back to them while she played with the kitten. They were lucky enough that the hot springs were empty on the women's side and there was a solid stone wall separating them from the male's side. What made it better was the open ceiling letting them look at the sky and its multitude of colors as the sun was setting.

"Nyaa… Nice..." Faye sighed contently, floating on her back in the water.

"How lucky were we?" Rosa asked, rubbing the kitten's stomach as it rolled on to its back. It purred not only from her touch but from the warm, slick stones around the water, "We found him on the first day!" She scratched under Beel's chin. "Aw! You're so cute!" She fawned.

"Yeah… Lucky…" Starphire murmured absentmindedly. Talia and Rosa looked at her and then glanced to one another.

"Something wrong, tall baka?" Talia asked and the female Hellstrom let the insult slip. She ran her fingers through her hair, pushing her bangs back and she sighed.

"Nah… I'm just thinking about what those people were talking about, you know, that monster that was attacking livestock and destroying homes?" They nodded.

"…I want to help but…" She grimaced and sighed yet again, something she had been doing more than she had liked after hearing about the beast, "Ah we can't afford to stay here for very long…"

* * *

"…Especially since the attacks are so random! It sucks!" Bright orange eyes watched Starphire from a lacrima. The image moved to Talia, then Rosa and finally it stopped on the kitten, Beel. They could hear the three continue to converse about what had been occurring outside of Amaryllis and in the light of the lacrima, a smile spread across their face.

"I'm gonna get out before I start looking like a damn prune," Starphire said, getting out of the hot spring and entering the inn. They chuckled.

It was a male, "It's about time someone took that request… Beel…" His voice echoed slightly. The kitten stopped moving about and looked up in to the sky, but from his point of view the kitten was staring at him, "Would you like to have a little more fun before you come home?" The kitten nodded. With of a twirl of his finger the image went to the three-quarter moon that was faintly visible in the evening sky.

"Very well…" He reached over in to the darkness around him and there was a distinct sound of pages being turned, "Don't forget to get me what I want as well…" Dark purple light illuminated a small space to his left. In the lacrima the moon became more defined in the sky and it slowly became a full moon. Using his free hand he brought the image back to Beel. Its eyes shifted to red that pierced through the mist that grew thicker.

"Ten seconds… Right on time." A different male spoke up.

"Indeed… Happy hunting, Beel…"

* * *

Starphire emerged from their room with a content sigh, dressed in the red and white kimonos provided for them. She interlaced her fingers behind her head as she walked down the hall. She couldn't be cooped up for so long, especially since there was a beast out there that was causing the people trouble. Her small smile turned down and she sighed yet again.

"Dammit…" She murmured. She spotted the elderly innkeeper sweeping the floors ahead of her and threw caution to the wind. Maybe she could get some useful information for them. She approached the woman who greeted her with a kind smile and a wave. Starphire returned the gesture.

"Having a nice time, deary?" she asked.

"Yes, it's just as wonderful as I remember…" Starphire said without her usual chipperness. She was rather serious this time around, "Miss, I was wondering if you could answer a few questions I have?"

"About what exactly, if you don't mind me asking?" She replied.

"… The beast that has been attacking livestock at the farms and destroying homes," Starphire finally said after a moment of pause. The wrinkles around the woman's mouth deepened as she frowned. She sighed. Starphire spoke up again, "Ma'am… I apologize," She bowed, "My friends and I are mages… I heard about the beast in town and I…" she wanted to explain herself further but was lightly bopped on the head by the wooden handle of her broom.

"Stop bowing, child, there is no need," the innkeeper told her. She nodded and stood up, "The beast… It's been a terror for a little over a month now. Every week or so that damned thing would attack at night, kill livestock, destroy homes and the like…" She sighed, "It's been a time for all of us, not only those farmers. The attacks seem be coming closer to Amaryllis which has many people on edge."

Starphire nodded now and again, "Is there… anything you could tell me about it? Anything that you've heard?"

The innkeeper smiled up at her, "Ah child. You're very kind for wanting to help us, but I am afraid I'd be no help to you. No one that I have spoken to has seen the beast, anyone who could've was far too frightened to attempt it lest their own safety and their families safety be threatened."

Starphire nodded again and looked at her feet, "I see… Again, I'm sorry I brought it up… I didn't mean t -" Again she was stopped by a bop on her head.

"That's enough of that, child. Enjoy your stay," She said, returning to her kind demeanor. Starphire smiled and bowed out of respect and jogged back to her room. The moment she stopped she came to a halt feeling someone grab her arm. She looked back to see the blank stare of a middle aged man. His skin was pale, his cheeks gaunt as if he hadn't eaten for days. The look in his eyes wasn't a threatening one, it was pleading…

* * *

"Hey Talia-chan?"

"Mmm…" she replied, still neck deep in the water. Rosa moved closer as she slowly rose out of the water while looking around the room warily.

"Is the steam getting thicker in here?" Rosa asked. Talia opened one eye and then both. She slowly rose out of the water realizing that the steam was far thicker than she last remembered and it was growing more so with each passing second though the heat of the water hadn't changed in the slightest. She could feel a faint magical presence that was steadily growing stronger. She cursed herself for not having her bow nearby. That would certainly make fighting a bit more difficult for her.

"There's a magical presence… Rosa, keep a look out," She warned, glancing around, "Can you smell anything?"

"The steam is overpowering any human scent; I can barely smell you or Faye-chan… Or see you for that matter!" Rosa looked around, "Beel? Beel where are you?" She froze at the side of deep growling. She glanced around, "Beel?" That certainly didn't sound like the little kitten they had found. Twin red lights pierced through the mist within a tiny shadow. That tiny shadow grew larger within the mist and a bestial growl accompanied it, deepening every second.

"What the -"

"Rosa, Talia, Get back!"

* * *

**-Ending Theme-** Life by Yui

* * *

**And Fin!  
**

**I hope you guys enjoyed this bit of build up. Not too much action of course but as you can probably tell by the ending, there will be next chapter!**

**I don't have a whole lot to say... Nothing at all really. Until next week.**


	10. Beel's Beastly Reveal!

**So, we're back with a new chapter! I did say I wasn't going to update every weekend from now on, but, I never said I wouldn't update on Friday...**

**But honestly the days will be Sporadic, but the updates will never exceed 10 days Unless there is some issue, i.e. Life, Computer (And we all know how those can be) or something else.  
**

**I'm sure I'm boring you now and you probably want to read. Enjoy!**

**October 18th Update: **Heyo! Check out a Forum I made for this fic! Link on my profile! October Exclusive contest!

* * *

_The man looked at her with frightened eyes. He released a shaking breath and Starphire winced slightly feeling his grip tighten on her wrist. He released yet another breath and murmured 'Help me.' His voice hoarse. He grabbed her other wrist, "Help me!" He said a bit more forcefully, his eyes widened to the point she was sure they would pop out.  
_

"_Hey… Hey are you all right?" Starphire asked hi. She gently wrenched one wrist free, but his grip wasn't that tight to begin with, and she placed her hand on his. Not only for comfort, it was to pry it off and put him a hold if he really wanted to cause her harm. The man jumped at her touch and he let out a shuddering breath. He took a step forward Starphire tensed; he took another step and released her wrist only to grip both of her shoulders. He looked up at her with wide, fearful eyes; she could see tears welling up…_

"_You… You are a mage… Yes? I - I overheard you talking with - with the... th.. the innkeeper." _

_Starphire slowly nodded. There was a hint of relief in his eyes and his shoulders rose a fraction but still, he seemed frightened, "Please… Please…" His shoulders began to shake, "Help us! That monster… It'll be the death of us all! Please!" A tear slid down his cheek._

"_Please calm down… My friends and I will do our best to find it but…" The man shook her slightly and her hands balled in to fists._

"_No! No you must find it!" He begged, "Amaryllis is not the wealthiest village - not since that terrible fire… We survive through our trading and it is good… But that beast… the accursed monster has been terrorizing us for far too long!... Please! We cannot pay you much but we are willing to give you everything if we can live in peace again!"_

_Starphire gently grabbed both of his wrists and pulled them from her shoulders, "We'd gladly do it for free, but without any leads, it'll be difficult to fi -"_

"_But I know what it looks like!" He said quickly interrupting her._

"_Really?" And the man nodded vigorously. He went on to say that it stood taller than most normal grown men. Its roar could shake a human to their very soul. Its eyes were as red as blood and it's grey and white fur was manic and wild. And that after each attack a bell would ring. A tiny bell… Starphire stopped him, "Grey and white fur? Are you sure?"_

"_I would never forget something so terrifying… It haunts my dreams…" He said distantly. His eyes looked to the floor with a blank stare. Starphire suddenly released his wrists and dashed away. He was shocked from his trance like state and reached for her, "Where are you going?"_

"_Stay here!" she yelled back at him._

* * *

"Rosa, Talia, get back!" Starphire yelled, barreling through the door and tearing them from their frame. The hot spring was filled with thick, muggy steam but that did nothing to stop her. She leaped off of the wooden deck before the stone and launched herself towards the darkest shadow as she was enveloped in light, "Requip! Mythos Armor, Phoenix!"

"Rrrragh!" A primal roar tore through the air. She felt her knee connect with something solid.

"Ahh!"

Starphire burst through the wooden wall separating the hot springs from the outside. She slid to a stop and her target hit the ground with a thud and slid away from her. She glared at the figure lying on the ground, thinking it was the best but her eyes widened to the size of saucers.

It was Rosa.

She quickly ran after the girl and kneeled at her side.

"Rosa! No! I'm so sorry, I thought you were…" she abruptly stopped and whirled around to the hot spring, "Talia!" She flinched as yet another primal roar reached her ears. A small figure was thrown through the wall, enlarging the hole she had previously made. She moved quickly and caught it.

It was Talia. The towel used to wrap her hair up was shredded and the one she had wrapped around herself was torn at the ends. She looked up at the hole in the hot springs barrier. The smoke pouring out of it made it impossible to see within and that beast was still in there.

'_The innkeeper! Those people! Dammit!' _ She took a step but stopped herself.

She glanced over at Rosa who was on the ground, out of it from the forceful blow she had delivered with her armored knee, but it appeared that that was the extent of the damage. She looked over to Talia who was still out of it but other than her torn towels, she appeared undamaged as well.

'_I can't leave them in the street for some perv… Or I lose that creature and it comes out here!'_

Rosa started to wake and move about. Faye flew from the mist at an incredible speed with eyes wide and tears welling up. She was by Rosa's side in an instant and shaking her, attempting to rouse her quicker. She was obviously frightened, visibly shaking.

"Rosa-chan! Rosa! Please please wake up! Please!" The grey and white exceed pleaded, "Please! It's coming!"

"Son of a -!" Starphire cursed underneath her breath. She scooped up Talia and laid her beside Rosa so that she wouldn't have to move far to defend them both.

Starphire stepped up and took her stance. She was clad in golden and red armor with the theme of a phoenix. It consisted of a red breast plate with golden accents and matching knee-high greaves and elbow length gloves. Her mid-riff was exposed, a gold and red armored skirt covered lower region and thighs. Her hair was wrapped by a ribbon colored a multitude of gold, reds and oranges and a golden crown sat atop her head with small wings on the sides and the head of hawk on the center.

She gripped her duel red and gold sabers tightly as she watched the mist. A large, muscular shadow was soon visible within and with it came a bestial growl. Starphire could see two red glows at the head. A humanoid cat stepped out from the smoke. It stood tall on its hind legs with wild grey and white fur, feral red eyes and dangerous looking claws and teeth. It was at least two heads taller than her! And its biceps were the size of her head!

'_**This**__ beast was that tiny little kitten?! The hell?!' _She screamed in her mind. She noticed her weapons shaking and she gritted her teeth. She steeled her nerves. No fear! She had fought a lot of beasts before! Some bigger than this, she could do this!

Beel rolled its shoulders and growled. It snarled looking down upon Starphire. It licked its lips and flexed its claws.

Starphire's lips turned up in to a smirk, "We might be able to kill two birds with one stone here. We can get that sweet four million jewels and kick your ass, you stupid furball. Take some weight of those villager's shoulders."

Beel snorted and flicked its tail to crack the ground in response to her threat. The Were-Cat raised one of its claws and motioned her to come at him.

"Let's get wild!" They both leaped in to battle. Starphire slashes blocked in rapid succession and matched Beel's slashes and stabs with its sharp claws. The two were in a stalemate. Starphire made her move and angled her blades inwards pointing towards the sky, blocking Beel's claws. She turned them out and pushed the Were-Cat's claws aside, giving her an opening to strike.

She spun in place, pointing both blades to her right and bringing them around for an upwards slash.

"Rising Phoenix!" The tips of the sabers ignited as they scrapped against the ground and she slashed.

Beel roared in pain as it was caught by the arc of red hot flames. It was thrown through the air with smoke coming off its dual burns. The Were-Cat flew back in to the hot springs with a splash, damaging the barrier further.

Starphire grinned, "All right!" but her victory celebration was premature and short-lived. She took her sword stance hearing the water churn.

"Here kitty kitty kitty…." Starphire goaded, gripping her sword hilts tighter. Suddenly a large amount of water surged towards her and drenched her. She recovered quickly, in time to see yet another wave come toward her. She attempted to turn the boiling water to steam but her blades wouldn't ignite. She was hit and drenched once again.

The force of the water caused her to stumble back.

"Dammit! Stupid… Cat…" She opened her eyes and paused in shock seeing a wide chest directly in front of her. It was marred with two streaks of hairless pink muscle with slight burns, but that was no other damage, no gash or burn. Nothing.

Starphire slowly looked up to see the grinning face of Beel. She doubled over and coughed violently because Beel had driven its knee in to her abdomen.

Her grip weakened on her weapons and her twin sabers fell to the ground with a clatter. Beel struck her with a strong back hand that threw her off of her feet and sent her crashing in to the wooden wall of a building across the street.

The Were-Cat growled and looked around at the surrounding buildings. Windows lit up, murmurs reached its ears and it noticed people shuffling out of their homes tiredly to see what was causing the ruckus. Beel grinned viciously and inhaled as it reared back its head. It prepared itself to let loose a powerful roar to blow them all away but was stopped and thrown back by a beam of light.

Beel stumbled back and growled in the direction of the blast only be struck twice again. Smoke rose from the points that were struck and a more powerful blast struck his stomach with explosive force that sent him stumbling back in to the hot spring yet again.

It quickly pulled itself out with a menacing growl and found its new attacker: Rosa. The girl was panting lightly with her fist extended towards the Were-Cat, a golden light around her hand. She slowly rose on to her feet, using one hand to keep her towel secure around her frame. Golden light surrounded her feet as well.

"Chaos Dragon Claws!" She said and Beel's eyes seemed to light up. Rosa closed the distance between them with a strong leap and delivered a hard right hook to Beel's face. She spun in mid-air, executing a butterfly kick and striking the Were-Cat twice again in the face and sending it stumbling away from her. Rosa jumped in to attack but was swatted like a fly by Beel's tail and sent tumbling across the ground.

"Immolation Wave!" Beel roared in agony as it was engulfed by a wave of flames.

The fire receded back in to Starphire's blades leaving scorched earth and walls in its short path of destruction. She gritted her teeth and tightened her grip on her weapons. Beel was still standing, its arms were crossed over its face to protect itself. The Were-Cat was burned in several places, she almost wretched as the smell of burnt hair wafted in to her nose, and its shoulders rose and fell as it panted.

Beel raised its head over its crossed arms and grinned at her.

"Holy Arrow!"

"Chaos Dragon Grenades!"

Beel kept its guard up as it was struck and pierced through by a trio of arrows made of golden light. The barrage did not stop there as it was bombarded by several golden orbs surrounded by static arcs that exploded on contact.

Starphire glanced to both of her sides to see that Rosa and Talia were up and ready to fight alongside her. Rosa still had her Chaos Dragon Claw spell in affect and Talia stood with a bow made of the same light as the arrows before, her left arm drawn back holding three more arrows in place.

"Light magic…" She surmised, looking between the two of them, "And you're a Dragon Slayer… Now the really, really bad motion sickness makes more sense…" She said with a smirk, "Let's complete the trifecta then! Requip Mythos!" Starphire exclaimed.

She was engulfed in the light of her magic and once it shattered she was dressed in a new suit of armor. Her armor was replaced by a knee-length, sleeveless white robe with slits down both legs from the hips, a golden colored sash was wrapped around her waist and she wore gold flats. Golden ribbons were wrapped around her legs from the knees down and her forearms from the elbow. Her weapons changed as well from twin blades to glimmering double edged sword with golden engravings in her right hand and a golden circular shield in her left. A halo of light hovered over her heads.

"Angel Armor…" She said, lifting her sword to point it at Beel. The Were-Cat worked its shoulders and neck. It flexed its claws and growled threateningly, setting its sights on them.

Talia's eyes narrowed, "Here Kitty kitty kitty…" She murmured, pulling her three arrows back ever so slightly, taut against the string of light, "Make my day, furball."

Beel lowered its upper body and its hind legs tensed, preparing itself to attack. Rosa raised her free fist. Starphire's grip tightened on her sword's hilt and Talia honed in the Were-Cat. All hell was about to break loose. Suddenly Beel relaxed, its ears drooped and he growled in an almost annoyed way. The Were-Cat shrank, becoming sleeker with more of a jungle cat appearance now that it was standing on all fours. It leaped up with a great force and speed that created a small gust in its wake as it disappeared from their sight, speedily moving across rooftops.

"I could hit the damn furball from here!" Talia said, aiming high but she was stopped by Starphire grabbing her left wrist.

"It's way too fast," She said.

"These arrows will home in on the bastard! C'mon!" Talia protested, trying to wrench free of the taller girl's grasp.

"And that cat could outrun them and put some innocent person in the way of the arrows, it's way too fast to hit from here," Talia calmed down. As much as she hated to admit, and she never would out loud, Starphire was right. That thing was fast and it was likely it could outrun her arrows, no matter how many she shot. She dispersed her bow and arrows and hung her head, her hands balled in to fists at her sides.

Rosa calmed down as well, "What now?" She asked them.

Starphire looked between them and then around at the surrounding buildings. The murmurs of the people grew louder as they came outside to see what was causing all of the commotion so late at night. She glanced at her two teammates once again and chuckled.

"Uhm… Let's head inside…" She said quickly, requiping in to her normal black attire.

Rosa looked confused. She opened her mouth to speak but suddenly shuddered a bit and held herself, "Is there a draft?" Talia shuddered as well and Starphire chuckled sheepishly.

"Yeah… Beel did a number on those towels of yours…" She had wanted to tell them, but knew this would be much funnier. Letting them find out for themselves. Both Rosa and Talia looked down to see their towels shredded in some places, revealing a bit of skin here and there but nothing too revealing. Talia blushed bright red, the Hellstrom sister could practically feel the heat radiating off of her skin.

Rosa went through a series of emotions. First a look of shock, which was followed by a look of realization that was replaced by utter embarrassment. She blushed brighter than Talia to the point that her skin tone could've been considered purple. She opened her mouth as if to speak or even scream but all that came out were squeaks and croaks and combinations of the two sounds. Her eyes rolled back and she hit the ground with a thud, but luckily her knees were together.

"I got her," Starphire said, collecting the unconscious girl. She moved to walk back in to the inn via the hole in the wall, but noticed Talia seemed to be rooted to the ground. She was visibly shaking. Her blush hadn't lessened whatsoever, "Aaand apparently I've got you too," She picked the smaller girl up tucked her under her arm. Talia put up no protest.

"That innkeeper lady is going to be _soooo_ pissed," Starphire grimaced. Outwardly she was calm and joking. It was the only front she could put up at a time like this. They had successfully found the beast, which turned out to be their target for this job. Did the owner know about the kitten and its transforming? Was this a trap? She shook her head vigorously to rid herself of these thoughts and more, but was only partly successful. She focused on the new task at hand and that was finding and taking down Beel before he caused any more damage.

* * *

"What the fuck was that?! I wanted to see those three little bitches get mauled!" A raspy male voice screeched angrily. The lacrima switched from Beel dashing across the rooftops to Starphire who was redressing Rosa and Talia who were still comatose due to their embarrassment, "That's better actually!" the same male said with a hint of lust in his tone. Sickly pale hands reached for the viewing orb but they smacked away.

"Wretch, do not touch the Master's belongings unless you think you would be more content without your hands," a different male spoke in a curt tone.

"No need to fret, Mad March. Kislota is just excited, no need to argue…" a smooth male voice broke up the arguing before it really began. A hand extended out to the orb with a single finger out and with fluid movements the lacrima zoomed in on Rosa's chest, namely the guild mark in gold over her heart before it was covered up. Then to Talia's inner left ankle and finally it stopped on Starphire's black guild mark.

"That symbol… Mad March, who was it that took this job again?"

"Hurricane Tiger, Master."

"How fun… And they've sent a Dragon Slayer too… It appears she controls light of some kind. That is quite interesting; I hope that one shows us a bit more."

"She's showing plenty now…" Kislota said, cackling madly.

"Now you're a perverted wretch, have you no shame?" Mad March chided.

"Oi! It's this prick who has the lacrima on their goodies! I can't help myself! Blame him," Again; before any arguing could erupt between the two, a deep chuckling interrupted them.

"Beel…" The lacrima's view returned to Beel as he stalked through the forest, "Rest now. I'll give you a new mission soon, but for now you should sleep." The Were-Cat nodded its head and the lacrima went dark.

"What's the plan?" Kislota asked.

"You ask me that as if my plan has suddenly changed," The Master chuckled, "Nothing has changed. I just need Beel to rest so that I can really test her, she's still holding back and I want to see it all," He went silent for a moment, "Mad March? Is that package ready to be delivered?"

"Yes, m'lord."

* * *

"Children these days! Always ruff-housing and destroying other people's property! I'd compare you lot to Fairy Tail but then again if it were any one of those three were still around and they had been the one fighting that beast then I would no longer have an inn! No question about it…" The innkeeper ranted and raved with her trusty broom in hand. Starphire, a conscious Talia and Rosa who had Faye in her arms, were standing side by side with their eyes closed and their heads bowed. All of them received several bops on the head courtesy of the elderly innkeeper and her broom handle while she chastised them for destroying her property.

"Yare yare…" She sighed after a few minutes, "I believe I calmed my rage with that," She shouldered her broom and cleared her throat, "It was only a wall and business has been slow lately..." She shook her head and bopped all four of them on the head once more, "But I still expect you lot to reimburse me for the damages to my wall… And I'll not doubt be hearing from my neighbors about the damages to their own properties!"

Starphire nodded, "Yes ma'am! Of course!" She rubbed the sore spot on her noggin, as did the others, "Again, we're deeply sorry," She bowed.

"We never meant for it to get out of control like that, honest!" Rosa said quickly, bowing as well, "We're really, really sorry! Right Talia-chan?" She asked her shorter friend who averted her eyes, looking anywhere but at the innkeeper. When she received a hit to the side of her knee courtesy of the innkeeper and her broomstick she bowed.

"Yeah… Sorry…" She grumbled.

The innkeeper sighed once more, "Enough bowing, stand up straight..." She nudged them with her broom handle and continued, "Spare a frail old women fifty-thousand jewels from your hefty payment from this job of yours and we'll call it even," She smiled knowingly, shocking the three girls and Exceed.

"Hey! How did you know about that?"

She brought out a flyer, "I stumbled across this while cleaning your room while you lot were in the hot springs, before she came to speak with me," the Innkeeper informed them, motioning to Starphire. They deadpanned seeing her mischievous smile.

"We… Don't really have a choice do we?" Starphire asked.

"Not if you want to keep staying here you don't, deary," She said with a smile and a glint in her squinted eyes. They sighed in unison and Starphire nodded.

"Yeah, no problem," Starphire stopped for a moment and questioned Rosa about a Wood-make mage in Hurricane Tiger and when she got her answer she grinned widely, "We could have a mage from our guild come by some time and repair the wall if you don't want to pay for the labor."

The innkeeper nodded, returning the flyer to them, "I believe I'll take you up on that offer, dear. And I will be expecting my cut soon…" She turned to walk away, shouldering her broom. She stopped and looked over her shoulder at them. Her expression was no longer mischievous, knowing or the usual sweet, elderly smile of a mother and grandmother but instead was somber, grabbing the girls' attention.

"That beast has been causing a lot of problems… More than you know. It's killed livestock, destroyed homes, it's attacked trade routes that lost us a bit of business and that has a taken a small toll… I fear it'll only grow worse if it isn't stopped…" She smiled a small smile, "I ask you on behalf of Amaryllis… Beat that creature…"

The girls looked between one another and exchanged a look. Talia nodded, hitting her fist in to her palm with fire in her eyes and a grin on her face. Rosa nodded as well. Starphire gave the innkeeper a thumbs up and a wide grin spread across her face, "Definitely! I doesn't stand a snowballs chance in hell against us!"

The elderly woman nodded, "And give in an especially strong hit from me for my wall and the hit my business has taken," She said, waving her broom as she walked away from them. That got a laugh out of Starphire who assured her that that was going to happen.

The elderly innkeeper stepped in to the back room and made her way towards the hot springs. She opened the sliding door to the woman's side and sighed yet again, something she had been doing a lot of lately, when she saw the extent of the damages.

"Ah well… Hopefully they're mages of their word... Aoi-chan!"

"Yes, Hisako-chan?" a taller woman around the same age stepped out from another room.

"Grab a broom would you, the faster this is done, the faster we can get back to our game, eh?"

"Yes of course," She bowed lightly and shuffled off quickly. Hisako looked over her shoulder in the direction where she left the three girls.

'_That tiger mark…' _She hummed quietly to herself, "I'll have to ask them about that later."

"Did you say something, Hisako-chan?" The innkeeper jumped in surprise and whirled around to see her friend already back.

"Oh my! Don't sneak up on me like that, Aoi-chan!" Her friend quickly apologized. Hisako forgave her as quickly and nodded her head, "Don't worry about, I was just talking to myself," She smiled and stepped in to hot springs, "Come on then."

* * *

**With the Trio...**

"Where do we start? I wanna find that furry baka and kick its ass!" Talia said, already pumped up for a fight.

"We might have to wait until night time, that's what all of the rumors and stories said, Beel only came out at night in that form," Starphire replied.

"We could search for him again," Rosa interjected, "There's no harm in finding Beel so we can fight him when he transforms and not let him cause any more trouble."

Starphire nodded and folded her arms, thinking over what could be done, "We could… But we can't stay together otherwise that'll make it harder to find Beel, no doubt he's a kitten again… But if we split up then he'll be able to pick us off if we don't regroup and attack the Amaryllis or another farm if we regroup too early…" She made a sound of annoyance while she chewed on the tip of her thumb. She snapped her fingers and jogged back to their room with Talia and Rosa on her heels.

"Lucky us... No... no that's not it... No... Ahah!" She brought out three yellow lacrima, "I always come prepared! Smoke Lacrima, when they're broken a really huge cloud of yellow smoke is released! It's so vivid that it's almost impossible not to see! - Even at night!" She tossed one of the robs to Rosa and Talia, "If one of is confronted by Beel then we break this and the others will come rushing in!"

"Pretty smart, tall baka!" Talia said, tossing her lacrima up and down.

"This is wonderful!" Rosa added.

Starphire nodded, "All right! We'll start searching in two hours…" Before they could ask about the wait, loud growls arose from their stomachs and Starphire held hers, chuckling sheepishly as she said, "We haven't had any breakfast yet!"

* * *

**Rosa**

Rosa and Faye were steadily making their way down the street. After breakfast they planned a bit longer and waited until noon to start searching, giving them plenty of time, or at least they hoped it was enough time, to find Beel. Starphire and Talia went off on their own just as they planned in order to cover more ground.

Rosa looked around, under fruit stands, in alley ways and many other places in order to find the shape-shifting cat. Faye was her eye in the sky, searching rooftops and higher places she could not. She unfortunately spent half of her searching time apologizing once again to multiple stand owners who remembered her from the other day during their first search. Namely they remembered Talia, the shorter mage tipping their stands with ease and making a mess of their merchandise.

"Beel…" Rosa called out quietly, "Beel…" She wasn't sure why as she was almost positive the Were-Cat wouldn't come to her but it never hurt to try. But being around so many strange people was difficult, especially when Talia wasn't with her. The little ball of anger was normally the voice of their team… the loud, angry voice that liked to curse and call people idiots… but still!

She looked around and finally stopped; she hugged herself and looked up to the sky, "Faye-chan? Anything?"

Her exceed hovered down and floated in front of her face. Faye shook her head, "Nothing, nya…" Rosa sighed and twirled a few strands of hair around her finger.

"What am I going to do? What am I not thinking of…Hmmm…" Her face scrunched up in thought. Just as she was beginning to formulate a plan, the ringing of a small bell brought her from her thoughts. She and Faye froze. A rough meow was heard from below followed by the ringing of a bell again. Both of them glanced down to see Beel walking past them, brushing Rosa's leg with its tail.

Faye yelped and jumped in to Rosa's arms.

Beel looked over its shoulder with a smile, or what she thought to be one. It's golden eyes shifted to a menacing red for a brief second and her heart skipped a beat.

'_Was it following me this whole time?! No! I would've sensed it's magic or something!... Wait… What?... It could've killed me!' _Her eyes widened, _'I should break the lacrima!... No! Beel could transform… If I fight him on my own… Wait, I could trap him now! But what if he surprised me by transforming while I'm doing that?' _She screamed in her own mind, thinking of plans only to contradict them on her own a second later. Beel meowed again, this time it was rough and slightly deeper. Rosa was brought from her thoughts once again and locked eyes with the kitten. It motioned its head and tail for her to follow.

When Rosa didn't immediately comply Beel seemed to smirk. It purred, though with its new rough tone, it was more of a growl. The kitten glanced to its left and Rosa hesitantly looked that way as well. She and Faye had gone in to a residential area in case some kids had found Beel and there were two children playing, being watched over by their mother who held a baby in her arms.

Rosa's eyes widened in horror and her head whipped around to look down at the kitten that locked eyes with her. Its eyes were those of a predator now. A killer that only felt joy when blood was shed, no remorse or guilt no matter what or _who_ it turned its claws on. Rosa gave it a look that said 'You wouldn't dare…' but Beel's eyes stayed the same and it motioned for her to follow yet again. When she didn't comply, it started for the children.

Rosa briskly walked past the kitten with her eyes looking at the ground. Beel smirked and ran after her.

She glared as hard as she could at the kitten that fell in step beside her. Beel ignored her completely.

She'd have to come up with a new plan.

* * *

**A little action now, but more is to come!**

**Yeah... Beel's one evil little creature! A really bad kitty.**

**I don't have very much else to say. Again, check out the Forum if you're interested and I'll see you guys again sometime next week or in the next 10 days :)  
**


	11. The Battle with Beel: Rosa's Resolve

**And I'm back. With a brand new chapter! How exciting!**

**We begin the exciting conclusion to the battle with the Beelzebub, the Were-Cat. Will Rosa, Talia and Starphire Succeed? You'll have to read to find out**

* * *

Rosa followed Beel in to a forested area outside of Amaryllis village. Following a river they eventually they came to an open space amongst the trees. The solid ground had a few random patches of grass, mainly focused around the river. There was a group of rocks of varying sizes which Beel made his way over to. He hopped from one to the next until he crouched atop the tallest and largest of them which allowed the Were-Cat to look down upon Rosa and Faye.

She gently tossed Faye in to the air, "Stay safe, Faye-chan. I won't let him hurt you," Rosa said reassuringly. The Exceed nodded, casting Beel one last frightened glance before flying over to the nearest tree branch and sitting down. Rosa glared as hard as she could at Beel who merely looked at her with indifference and a predatory smile, letting the light bounce off of its fangs.

* * *

"Absolutely perfect…" He spoke. He reached out from his darkness and pressed his finger against the lacrima and Beel in the image. A ripple effect spread out from his fingertip, "You've done very very well, Beel, now have your fun."

* * *

Beel released a high pitched growl that could've been mistaken for a purr. Its voice began to deepen, become rougher and the cute, little kitten sounded more like the beast it really was. Its small body began to expand and it opened its mouth wide, letting out a pained roar towards the sky. Its shoulders broadened first with sickening cracks that made Rosa cover her ears to lessen the noise. Gradually Beel grew, rising up on to its hind legs. Its upper body broadened as well and its front legs became human-esque arms with the same sharp claws she remembered from the hot spring.

Beel, having finished its transformation, jumped down with a rather heavy impact. The Were-Cat stared down the Dragon Slayer the way a predator would its prey.

Rosa gulped. She spread her feet apart with her right foot slightly more ahead than her left. She raised both of her fists with the right slightly higher. In her she repeated the words she had been telling herself ever since she started following Beel, _'I can do this… I can do this… I can do this…' _Her breathing quickened which Beel picked up on. The Were-Cat closed the distance between them in the blink of an eye and landed a solid punch to Rosa's face that sent her sliding back across the ground. She had dug her heels in to the earth as a means to stop herself and it had worked.

"Ow…" She hissed, gingerly touching her sore cheek. She glared lightly at Beel and the Were-Cat grinned back at her. She kept her fighting stance up and uttered the words of her spell, "Chaos Dragon Claws!" Her arms to her elbow and her legs from her knees down were enveloped in golden light and the ends went past her fingertips and toes and sharpened to form claws.

She flexed them and Beel did the same with its own.

Beel charged at her at a break-neck pace. It slashed and stabbed at a rapid pace and Rosa countered each blow to the best of her ability. She lunged forward, receiving a cut on her shoulder but it was worth it. She leaped up and delivered a powerful knee to Beel's abdomen. The Were-Cat stumbled back, holding its stomach and Rosa quickly capitalized on her first hit.

Golden electricity sparked around her arms and she unleashed a flurry of swift and powerful punches, focusing on Beel's stomach as that was the part she was level with. Her punches increased in speed and power and Beel was lifted off of the ground by the barrage.

Rosa finally stopped with her right drawn back. Her fists tightened and she aimed to deliver a powerful punch, but just as she threw her punch she was shocked to see it stopped by Beel's tail. It shot out from behind him and cancelled out her power as well as shattered the golden transparent shell around her arm. It wrapped around her wrist and pulled her forward.

The Were-Cat delivered a vicious knee blow to her chin. Its tail wrapped around her wrist and pulled her back before she even had the chance to stumble back. Beel swung both arms down from above and struck Rosa's shoulders with such force that ground underneath her feet cracked and the armor around her legs shattered as well.

Her eyes screwed shut from the pain that followed the blow. She opened her eyes enough to see Beel's tail moving around and quickly moved her left arm, successfully blocking the attack as the tail lashed out at her, but she lost the last of her armor.

Beel swung his head down and struck Rosa on top of the head. Her eyes went blank and Beel stepped back, watching, clearly amused. The Dragon Slayer stumbled about, stunned and dazed from the impact. The Were-Cat took advantage. He lunged and swung his arm, delivering a strong punch to Rosa's stomach. She doubled over, gasped and wheezed as the air was forced from her lungs. Beel pushed forward and sent her crashing in to one of the many trees.

"Gah!" Rosa stumbled forward after the impact. She had struck the tree hard enough to leave a shallow dent and strip it of bark, but miraculously stayed on her feet. Though only for a few seconds as she fell to her knees a moment later, panting heavily.

Beel crouched low, preparing to dash at her and finish the fight. He was bombarded by golden energy balls and swiftly flipped out of the smoke. He growled in Rosa's direction. She had her hand extended out to her with golden arcs of electricity sparking around her fingers.

"Chaos Dragon Grenades…" She panted out. She rose back on to her feet.

"Rosa-chan!" Faye called to her.

"Stay away! I'll be fine…" Rosa said, though there was hesitation and doubt in her tone. She raised her fists again and took a few steps forward.

Beel growled and snapped at her, causing her to flinch back. The Were-Cat made a noise as its shoulders bounced, almost as if it were laughing. Rosa's face scrunched up in anger. Her attempts to look menacing only seemed to further Beel's amusement. The Were-Cat reared its head back let loose a wicked, screeching laughter that made Rosa flush red with embarrassment. She looked at her feet and that was her mistake.

Beel closed the distance between them in an instant struck her chest with a palm strike. She slid back and hit the tree with a thud yet again and the Were-Cat took a step forward, throwing a punch. Rosa ducked under it and rolled; she placed her hands on the ground and thrust both of her legs up, planting them firmly in Beel's stomach and knocking the Were-Cat in to the air.

Rosa flipped on to her feet and jumped after it. Her fists sparked with golden electricity, they glowed with her magic and with a battle cry she unleashed yet another furious barrage of fast punches. Like last time she focused on Beel's stomach. Landing a strong punch to Beel's stomach, she executed a front flip and brought her heel down on the Were-Cat's shoulder.

Beel landed on its feet, cracking the earth below him. Rosa righted herself in the air and came down readying another, more powerful punch like before. Beel grinned and like before its tail lashed out and countered her fist. But the Were-Cat was the one to be shocked. Rosa's punch had little energy behind it and instead she grabbed its tail.

Her grip tightened on Beel's tail and she pulled it towards her, making the Were-Cat yowl and then bite its lip to keep quiet, at the same time keeping it from attacking her, "Chaos Dragon Nova Fist!"

Rosa called out her spell and threw her punch, hitting Beel square in its sternum. The point of contact glowed brighter and Beel was engulfed in a powerful explosion and sent crashing in to the rocks, leaving a scorched black trench in its wake. Rosa lifted her arms shield herself from the debris as it came her way. she lowered them once it was over.

"Owie…" She winced, shaking out her hand that struck Beel. It felt as though she struck an iron wall. Her eyes went to billowing column of smoke. A dull light shown from within and out stepped Beel. Patches of its fur were being burned under golden flames. Its eyes glowed red as it glared at the Dragon Slayer and it patted out the flames without so much as flinching. As the flames were extinguished, pink taut muscle was revealed that was covered by strange black tribal markings.

"Uh oh…" Rosa murmured, taking a step back. Her Chaos Dragon Nova Fist spell was powerful and the Were-Cat walked out of the explosion and rid itself of the flames like they were nothing. She winced once she heard the louds pops and cracks that came from Beel as it craned its neck and worked its shoulders. The Were-Cat growled and crouched low, readying itself to go on the attack.

Rosa thought on her feet quickly. Beel was in front of her in the blink of an eye. She attempted to jump back but the beast grabbed her by her throat and lifted her off of the ground. She charged magic in to her feet and kicked at its sides and thrust both it to its sternum, but save for the grunts and the deepening sneer that marred its face, Beel showed no signs of pain. She charged magic in to her hands in an attempt to pry Beel's large fingers from around her neck, but it was for naught.

"Agh!" She winced and gritted her teeth as she felt Beel's claws dig in to her skin. She kicked once again, but this time yelped in pain. It was as if she had kicked a steel wall, like before. She tried twice more and it was the same result. Her legs were growing numb, Beel's grip grew steadily tighter and her vision was beginning to tunnel…

Beel released a deafening roar.

'_Think… think… think… Gotta… get free…' _She thought, sucking in a breath through gritted teeth. She wheezed and brought her hands away, only allowing Beel to tighten its grip on her neck. She slowly raised her hands as her eyes began to roll back. She raised them before her mouth, in a similar fashion to a trumpeter readying themselves to play. She weakly inhaled.

"Chaos… Dragon's…" Beel's eyes widened considerably and he tightened his grip at the last second to crush her throat. But it was a second too late, "Roar!" Rosa exhaled a thin stream of golden light that widened inches away from Beel's face and engulfed the Were-Cat. It released its hold on Rosa and stumbled back.

The Chaos Dragon Slayer clawed at the ground, struggling just getting on her hands and knees before she clutched at her throat. He gulped down oxygen as if it were her last breath. A wave of relief came over her, her vision slowly returned to normal and feeling was returning to the parts of her that had begun to go numb. She weakly looked up to inspect Beel and the extent of the damage she caused. The Were-Cat was clutching at its face, its shoulders shaking as smoke rose from in between its fingers from the back of its head.

"RrrrrAAGGGH!" Beel growled quietly before releasing an earth-shattering roar to the sky. Rosa flinched in fear as the sound shook her to her core. Beel's face was burned in some areas, large patches of fur were burned away and she gagged slightly as the strong smell of burnt hair reached her ears. The Were-Cat roared in her direction and the force behind it lifted her off of the ground and threw her on to her butt. It smashed its tail against the ground and left a shallow dent.

"Rosa-chan! Get out of there!" Faye yelled.

"I…can't…" Rosa breathed out, still panting, _'Beel's too fast… But hopefully, it worked…' _She prayed it had.

Beel closed its mouth and continued to growl at her. It took a step forward and then lurched forward. It wobbled and clutched at its head. The Were-Cat looked around and stumbled about as if it were drunk. It fell to one knee and groaned quietly. A hand went to cover it's mouth, but it was too late and the Were-Cat vomited out its stomach contents on to the ground.

Rosa smiled slightly, "I did it…" Beel was disoriented and now was her chance. She attempted to stand but nearly fell in the process. She was caught though. She looked back to see Faye holding her up by her jacket hood, "Thanks, Faye-chan…" The Exceed nodded and pulled her in to a stand position and supported her from behind. Rosa took out the smoke lacrima and chucked it at the Were-Cat.

It shattered at Beel's feet and the Were-Cat roared and slashed at the air as it was surrounded by a rising column of bright green smoke. Beel stumbled out and fell on its rear.

"Faye-chan, go for cover, he won't be stunned for long," The Exceed opened her mouth to protest but Rosa spoke to her with a bit more forcefulness despite her weakened state and Faye did just as she was asked. Rosa kept her eyes on Beel as the Were-Cat tried again and again to get back on to its feet only to stumble. Though it wouldn't be long now…

She raised her fists and spread her feet apart, taking her fighting stance for the third time now. She had to keep going.

"I won't lose… I don't know if I can beat you, but I certainly won't lose!" Rosa steeled her resolve.

Beel clutched at its face. It stopped wobbling around, but still seemed disoriented. It glared hard at her past between its fingers. It took a single, hesitant step, and that was when she struck.

In an instant, Rosa cleared the distance between them and delivered a harsh knee blow to Beel's chin.

'_I won't lose!' _

* * *

Talia unceremoniously dropped the fruit stand she was holding over her head. Her eyes were glued to the sky above the treetops. She ignored the owner of the stand, who was absolutely livid. He attempted to grab her shoulder, and turn her around, but Talia took off.

'_Don't let it be Rosa, Don't let it be Rosa! Beel is too dangerous!' _Talia kept chanting in her mind, over and over again, hoping that it wasn't her friend that was fighting that vicious beast. Her hopes were dashed. Ahead of her, at the end of the street she saw Starphire past the street she was on on her way to the forest.

Rosa was fighting Beel. Alone

She took her bow from her back, and made sure she had her quiver of arrows with her. She knew they had a job to do, which was return Beel to its owner, as crazy as that was. But if it did anything to Rosa, she was prepared to pull out all the stops.

'_We're coming for you, Furball!' _

* * *

**And next week will be the Exciting conclusion to this 2 parter! Aren't I evil? Well… Probably not as evil as Beel, but I'm somewhere…**

**I really hope you guys enjoyed this chapter. I don't have much else to say.**

**Have a damn good one, drop a review and I'll see you all next time!**


	12. The Battle with Beel: Triple Threat

**And we're back, Guardian and I, with the conclusion to the Battle with Beel.**

* * *

"Rrrraaagh!" Beel roared as it charged for the Dragon Slayer, fury in its eye. It slashed downwards and Rosa dived out of the way of its powerful claw. The attack tore through the ground even a short distance ahead of its claws. It's strength increased by its rage.

She rolled and hit the ground running immediately to put some distance between her and the Were-Cat. She heard a swish. She found no need to look behind as she already knew what was there. She had to time this right…

She ducked and her heart raced as the claw whistled just over her head. She leaped up, narrowly avoiding Beel's tail as it attempted to swipe for her feet. She pressed both of her feet against the tree in front of her and pushed off in to a back-flip. She went high and cleared Beel. She brought her knees to her chest and placed her feet against the Were-Cat's back and pushed off yet again, this time sending Beel face first in to the tree.

Rosa hit the ground and rolled back and managed to land safely on her knees. She placed both of her hands together, calling out her spell as her magic gathered, "Chaos Dragon Grenades!" She thrust her hands toward the Were-Cat palms out, and fired yet another volley of explosive shots and they met their mark just as Beel stepped back away from the tree.

Despite the volley, and the potentially dazing blow she delivered, Beel walked out of the smoke created by the explosions almost unscathed.

More patches of his fur were burned off and more of the strange tribal markings were revealed, but the Were-Cat seemed more or less unfazed like before. Beel picked up speed, starting at a jog, then sprint and with a strong bound; it went in to a run and barreled in to Rosa in an instant.

She yelled out in pain as she was thrown back and Beel kept up his attack. He leaped forward and drove his knee in to her stomach. She was one her but she doubled over, holding her stomach. The Were-Cat brought the sharp of its elbow down on her back, a blow that pushed her to her knees. Beel grabbed her by the back of her jacket and tossed her in to the air only to grab her by her ankle and slam her down. It walked to her and the moment Beel was standing over her, she called out her spell…

"Chaos Dragon's Roar!" Rosa, having forgone the stance, unleashed a wide and powerful golden blast that engulfed Beel. As the smoke cleared Beel was covered in golden flames. Rosa scurried back as the Were-Cat patted down the flames. It was panting heavily, revealing to her just how fatigued it was from their battle. The burns, the blows and she could finally see just how far she had pushed the beast.

Beel stalked towards her and she scurried back further. The Were-Cat raised its claw, its aim to cut her down once and for all. From above, three streams of light came down and pierced through Beel's shoulders and back and went through it to the ground where they shattered and disappeared. Beel stumbled back and yowled in pain, holding its body. There were no physical wounds, no holes from the piercing attack.

Rosa's lips turned up in to a smile despite the danger. There was only one person she knew that could pull off a ranged attack like that. Two more lights came down and pierced through Beel, sending the Were-Cat to the ground. It rolled about and yowled in pain.

It pounded its fists against the ground and growled in the Dragon Slayer's direction. Rosa scurried back slightly, and tried to get back on to her feet before the Were-Cat went on the attack. The beast was far faster compared to her. It lunged at her with its claws extended and its fangs bared to tear her apart once they sunk in to her flesh.

Rosa noticed a light on the ground to her right that became brighter and a moment later, a glowing figure dashed past her and the light shattered revealing Starphire, clad in her Angel Armor from before. She dragged the tip of her blade through the earth and slashed upwards just as Beel was in range, leaving a thin streak of light in her wake.

There was a brief pause as Beel was thrown back by the slash. A wave of light burst out from the arc of her slash and sent Beel crashing in to the trees with an explosive ending.

"Sorry I'm late to the party," Starphire said, extending her shield arm out to Rosa who took it with a smile. She was helped to her feet, "I hope there's room for one more," She said with a grin, "Because we're missing one!"

Beel roared in rage and charged them like a mad bull. Rosa took her fighting stance, thinking it best to counter that Were-Cat's attack but Starphire placed a hand on her shoulder and shook her head.

"No need…" She was still smiling despite the very fast approaching danger. Beel was mere feet from the them when a very fast blur came speeding out of the trees. Beel was drop-kicked by two small feet attached to an equally small girl. Talia's eyes were full of rage and her attack was only the beginning.

"BAKA!" She screamed. Beel was again sent flying and Starphire slashed at the air, launching a wave of light in the arc of her swing, sending it after the Were-Cat. Beel was lost in the explosion, giving them some time.

Talia turned to Rosa, "You all right?" She asked. Rosa nodded, holding her stomach. Though she said yes, her fatigued appearance told Talia the truth. She formed an orb of light in her hand and held it out to Rosa, "C'mon, eat it. You've used up a lot of magic…"

Rosa nodded and took the orb before biting in to it and eating it as if it were food, much to Starphire's surprise.

"Whoa! That was awesome! So you eat light to refuel yourself?" She asked Rosa who nodded.

"Chaos Dragon Slayer magic is like pure energy, I eat light…" Starphire created an orb of her own and held it out to her.

"My Angel armor is light based, so eat up, you'll need your strength!" She said with a wide grin. Rosa bowed lightly and took the orb, consuming it quickly. She was surrounded by a faint gold aura and some of her visible injuries began to heal right before their eyes.

She nodded with a renewed vigor, "Okay!" Faye cheered from the sidelines. A sudden deafening roar put a stop to their camaraderie, it shook the very ground beneath their feet. They tensed, and readied themselves for a fight. Starphire raised her sword and shield. Rosa used her 'Chaos Dragon Claws' once again now that she had the energy to do so, creating transparent, golden claws around her arms and legs. Talia, now with her bow and a quiver of arrows on her back, raised her weapon and used her magic, surrounding her weapon in light and drawing back her free hand to create two arrows of light.

Beel stalked out of the smoke, panting heavily with anger and fatigue. The Were-Cat and reared its head back and roared louder than any other time. It set its sights on Rosa, and slammed its claws against the ground, digging the sharp tips in to the earth.

The black tribal on its muscle began to glow red, revealing the parts still hidden underneath its fur. Beel's eyes lit up as well and the Were-Cat was surrounded by a purple aura. It began to grow in size. Its hair grew longer and more feral. Its fangs grew sharper and its claws extended as well.

Beel slammed its tail against the ground and caused small chunks of earth to turn up as the spot it struck caved in.

"Attack it together!" Starphire exclaimed, dashing forward. Talia yelled after her but her shouts fell on deaf ears. Beel roared once again and charged forward and a break neck speed, tearing deep gashed through the ground with its claws.

Starphire charged in shield first, blocking a powerful punch from Beel that made her slide back, but that in no way stopped her. She slashed her sword twice, launching waves of light that struck the Were-Cat, but Beel leaped from the smoke with a scratch on it. Beel slashed for her and Starphire was knocked off of her feet when it struck her shield.

Rosa dashed past her and leaped up, delivering a high knee blow to Beel's chin. She brought her fist down on the Were-Cat's head and struck it in the face with a hard punch. Beel's head whipped to the side and it moved its body with its head. Beel spun around and whipped Rosa with its tail, sending her sliding back across the ground.

"I got'em!" Starphire charged in again and slashed upwards. Light gathered at the tip of her blade and she fired a wide beam in the arc of her swing. Beel took the blast head on and was engulfed in an explosion but ran out of the smoke with little damage on its body.

Beel stopped and crossed its arms, defending itself against a volley of arrows courtesy of Talia. Rosa attacked it with a barrage of fast and powerful punches that were enhanced by her magic, but Beel broke her offensive and delivered a swift punch to her sternum and with its tail, it knocked away Starphire's sword as she slashed it. Beel lashed out at her with its claw but she managed to block its attack with her shield.

"Holy Arrow: Scatter!" Talia let an arrow fly and she snapped her fingers. The single arrow burst in to a dozen smaller arrows that bombarded the Were-Cat and pierced through it. Beel stumbled back but still persisted. It growled in anger and slammed its claws in to the ground.

"Rrrrraaaaggh!" Silver magic seals appeared around its wrists as it pulled its claws free by slashing upwards. Ten sharp waves of silver energy tore through the ground towards Talia, spreading out as they sped towards her. Starphire and Rosa jumped in and together they created a curved shield of light. The ten waves exploded on contact, quickly shattering their defense and sending both girls flying in to Talia. All of them rolled across the ground and landed in a heap.

Beel reared its head back roared to the night sky. The aura around its body seemed to grow darker and more menacing. It roared at the girls, releasing a powerful sound wave that had them covering their ears and holding on to the ground as to not be carried away.

"Chaos… Dragon Grenades!" Rosa extended her hand to the beast and fired a barrage of explosive shots that stopped the Were-Cat and its sonic assault.

Starphire was the first one to hop back on to her feet. She charged Beel and slashed, firing waves of light at point blank range that knocked Beel back ever so slightly. She raised her weapon high, "Heaven Tearing Wave!" She slashed downwards and a large wave of golden light exploded from the arc of the slash, through the left side of Beel's body.

The Were-Cat stumbled back, the left side of its body burned. It clutched at its shoulder and Starphire looked at it with a smirk.

"Get out of there, Tall baka! It's fast!" Talia shouted. Starphire turned to her to ask why when she was sent flying towards them by a powerful punch courtesy of Beel. The Were-Cat reared its head back to roar once more, but was stopped by a volley of arrows and explosive orbs from Talia, and Rosa respectively.

"That's why!" Talia said, looking down at the dazed Starphire at her feet. The Requip mage slowly stood up with the help of her teammates and the three of them stared down Beel, who was panting heavily. It clenched and unclenched its claws.

"We could beat it if we combine out magic…" Rosa said to them.

"That would be a good plan…" Talia started, "If some tall baka didn't keep jumping in to battle!" Starphire dashed forward and attacked Beel with another series of slashes. She jumped out of the way of its tail and slashed its arm, but the Were-Cat charged her and attempted to tackle her, but she blocked the hit with her shield. "Like that!" Talia shouted, gritting her teeth in her anger.

"Calm down, Talia-chan…" Rosa said pleadingly, "Just wait for your opening!" The Dragon Slayer ran to assist Starphire. Talia grumbled quietly to herself as she raised her bow and brought out an arrow from her quiver. She pulled it back against the string and it was gradually surrounded by the light of her magic.

"Calm down… Wait… She's such a baka sometimes…" She murmured with a small smile.

Starphire attacked with another trio of light waves and jumped back as Beel lunged at her with its claws posed to slash her. Rosa attacked Beel from the right, delivering a strong punch to its face and she ducked to attack its stomach. Yer again she attacked with a furious barrage of punches and it was gradually lifted off of the ground. She spun and struck it with a solid kick, throwing it slightly higher in to the air.

"Heaven's Tearing Wave!" She launched her strongest technique once again, this time horizontally through the air. Beel was run through its hips and a wave of light exploded behind it.

"Talia now!" Rosa called.

"I see it!" Talia let her arrow fly. Beel looked up and charged towards them but stopped and made a noise akin to a gasp as it was pierced through its chest from behind. Beel stumbled forward and clutched at the smoking wound through its chest.

"That was cool!" Starphire exclaimed. She raised her weapon and slashed three more times, launching more waves of light. Beel seemed to snap out of its pain induced trance and lunged for them. It delivered vicious lariats to Rosa and Starphire, throwing them back. The Were-Cat inhaled deeply, rearing its head back and it let loose another roar. With nothing to hold on to, Talia was thrown through the air with a thud.

"Dammit…" Starphire hissed, slowly picking herself up and collecting her weapons, "How much punishment can this thing take?"

"Rosa, try your dragon's roar," Talia suggested but Rosa shook her head in the negative.

"I tried it before twice and it kept getting up. What can it do when it's like this…" She said in a dejected manner. She looked up, nearly being blinded to see Talia holding a light orb out to her, larger than the one before.

"Eat this then! C'mon!" She urged the Dragon Slayer.

"But…" She stopped when Starphire added a bit of her own power to increase the size of the orb further.

"You should do it, I can't hold it back for long!" and with that she leaped in to battle, clashing Beel. Rosa watched this and her eyes went to the ball of light. She gulped and took it in to her hands. She opened her mouth wide and took great bites out of it and consumed it quickly. She was surrounded by an aura of golden flames and she exhaled. The rush of power was incredible!

"Okay!" She nodded. Her spirit renewed by the sudden rush she was feeling. Her injuries were heeling slowly, "Starphire, move please!" She shouted, dashing towards the dueling Were-Cat and Requip mage. Starphire quickly rolled out of the way, narrowly avoiding Beel's tail and it set its sights on Rosa. It charged her and roared.

Rosa slid to a stop and inhaled deeply. She placed took her stance with her fists in front of her mouth. She waited until the right time just as Beel was mere feet from her. The moment it swung its arms to cut her down, she called out her spell with her all her might!

"Chaos Dragon's Roar!" She exhaled a stream of golden light that widened the moment it left her hands. Beel was in engulfed in the blast that widened considerably and incinerated the few trees it reached. Rosa stumbled back and fell on her rear the moment her spell ended. In front of her was a wide, scorched trenched that grew wider the farther it went. In the middle lay a blackened and burned Beel, parts of its body were still burning with golden flames.

The three of them watched the Were-Cat and as the second ticked by and turned in to minutes, relief began to wash over them knowing the battle was over now. They all jumped as Beel moved, it reached forward with its claw and slowly it lifted its head to glare at them. Its eyes were no longer glowing red, but were still the same red of its current state. It struggled to pull itself towards them but to no avail. Beel's head struck the ground, it had blacked out.

Starphire smiled widely and plopped down on her butt as she requiped in to her normal clothing, "All right…"

Rosa exhaled a sigh of relief, falling to her knees.

Talia lowered her bow and let out a breath she hadn't known she was holding. The fight was over. They had won.

"WOOHOO!" Starphire cheered, pumping her fists in to the air, "We won! Yahoo!"

* * *

At the sound of a doorbell, a well-dressed young man made his way to the front door at a steady brisk pace. He opened the door and looked down with a smile. A small kitten walked it with its head lowered and its tail dragging along the ground.

"Beelzebub, glad to see that you're home…" the kitten stopped and looked up to see the smiling face of its owner. Beel looked to the floor once more, but again looked up as it was lifted up to eye level with its owner. His orange eyes gleamed, making Beel tense.

"You did very well," he petted the kitten's head and walked back to his grand room. He took a seat on his decorative wooden throne trimmed with gold and placed the kitten in his lap as he gazed in to the lacrima. The images depicted Rosa, Talia and Starphire and followed them as they made their way back to town.

"Very well indeed…" the young man said with a smirk, stroking Beel's fur, "Now I'm very interested… Hurricane Tiger," A grin pulled at his lips, "They did return you to me… So, I'll be generous…" the lacrima showed the girls' room at the inn and he snapped his fingers.

* * *

"Damn that cat can throw a mean punch…" Starphire said while rubbing her bruised cheek. She walked in to their shared room first followed by Talia and Rosa who had a very happy Faye in her arms, "I can't wait to take a shower and get some sleep…" She plopped down on her bed and sighed.

"Ditto…" Rosa said, "Maybe the innkeeper will let us use the male's side while it's empty…" She said sat down on her own bed and immediately fell back, her eyes closed as she let out a sigh of relief.

"She had better…" Talia murmured, plopping down on her stomach. She closed her eyes.

Starphire chuckled to herself. Her eyes opened and she looked around the room curiously hearing light snoring. Both Talia and Rosa were asleep already. She sweat-dropped…

"They're all tuckered out… I'm kind of surprised I'm not…" She yawned. Sensing that she wouldn't evade the realm of sleep for long, she got up and took their shoes off for them and set them on the ground. She turned away and bent down to remove her own footwear when she spied something on the table.

Two stacks of bills. She picked them up and held them up to the light. The money was real. Real jewels… but who had left it? It was a substantial amount and she remembered being told that the village didn't have a lot of money to go around. All of those rumors and this appeared to be maybe three… four million jewels.

Her eyes widened considerably and in her mind she readied herself to summon one of her weapons. She glanced around the room, thinking maybe someone would attack them. But after a few minutes of waiting, nothing happened.

She looked at the money in her hand. They hadn't technically completed their job and yet here was the payment, or what she assumed to be the payment at least. She finally shrugged. They were paid and while she was up, she might as well fulfill their end of the bargain for being allowed to stay after their ruckus. She went to pay the innkeeper, tell her the good news and then it was off to bed.

She grinned. Sterling was definitely going to be impressed! Maybe he'd finally take her on an S-class job!

* * *

**And that's it. Drop a review if you like it. **

**Until next time.**


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